Tale of the Uzumaki
by slade963
Summary: In a world torn apart by war one Uzumaki heir must prove to himself and his clan that he can be the next head of the Uzumaki clan. Will this young man rise to the ocasion or will he just be another casualty of war. also this will not be a god like fic... but all legends must start somewhere [AU]
1. Chapter 1

**AN: Yo, so yeah I recently read a pretty good fic about Naruto unlocking his Uzumaki bloodline and traits. Like I said it's pretty good and the name is 'Tales of the Arcane' so go check it out if you want. Anyway I got inspired by it to write my own spin about the Uzumaki and what exactly happened to them and the after math of that. So this story picks up from about two minutes before the actual attack on the Uzumaki by Iwa, Kiri and Kumo. And as this story will be about a Naruto who grew up with his clan you might have guessed that his father is not the fourth Hokage and mother is not Kushina but think of this character as Naruto never the less :P . So yeah let the story begin man.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto in any way, shape or form and if I did… you could count your ass on the fact that I would not be such a fan boy for Sasuke that Kishi is. Honestly is he portraying his feelings through Sakura and Karen?**

**Chapter one: is this what they would have wanted?**

People thought he had it easy in life… but what do they know? What would they know about the expectations set on him by someone whose power is so vast that you could not even comprehend? How would they know what it was like to see disappointment in that persons eyes every time you did not meet those expectations?

These were the thoughts that were going through Naruto's mind as he sat atop his favorite hilltop overlooking the vast sea that surrounded the island that the Uzumaki called their home. If anyone else were to look out at the view that was gracing his eyes with its presence then it would certainly not surprise them why exactly this was his favorite place to come when he had to calm his head. The various whirlpools danced across the surface of the ocean in what could be described as an eerily peaceful painting of sorts; however, Naruto had no illusions that those whirlpools were dangerous to any ship or human who did not have the correct seals to pass it. However, those thoughts were not why Naruto was up here now; he was here to enjoy the serene atmosphere that this place created. To enjoy the gentle breeze that blew through his blood red bangs that framed his face on both sides, to get away from his nagging mother who was always scolding him to stop being lazy and then try to continue teaching him politics.

Last, but most definitely not least, he was here to get away from his father. The man who was always looking at him as if he was a disappointed, who ALWAYS said he could have done this or that better. Why could his father not understand that he was doing his best? Why could he not get at least one "I'm proud of you son". Naruto could not understand what else he could do because he was the strongest of his age group, a prodigy praised by many others, and a respected ninja among the Uzumaki clan. So what if he had not unlocked his kekkei genkai? He could take all the others even without the stupid bloodline.

Naruto slumped a little more as he thought about his father _'I just don't understand father sometimes. Why put all these expectations on me? Doesn't he know what it's doing to me?'_

As he was staring at the beautiful scene before him, he heard a slight rustle in the underbrush behind him. With years of ninja training behind him he did not even wait a second before jumping on his feet, swirling around and pulling out a kunai to settle into a defensive stance. He stretched out his senses to find out exactly who it was that tried to sneak up on him but before he could, the person came strolling out, when he saw who it was he instantly relaxed.

It was a girl about his age. Which was 17 years of age. She had the common crimson red hair of the Uzumaki clan that framed her face with two bangs that hung all the way to her breasts; she had unusual green eyes, quite fair skin, and a large sized bust and was a little shorter than he was. She had on a long sleeved black shirt that clung rather provocatively to her figure, green short shorts and black shinobi sandals. Naruto could not help but stare up and down at her figure very slowly.

The girl looked rather amused at his shameless ogling of her figure "Well first you want to kill me, judging by that kunai in your hand, and now you are basically raping me with your eyes. How rude can one get?" she continued to giggle at his ashamed look and his blush after he heard what she said. "And what happened to your clothes idiot?"

At that remark Naruto looked down at his own clothes. His grey flak jacket was almost ripped in half by a slash that went horizontally across his chest; he winced at a phantom pain that shot through his body when he saw that the slash went through his red under-shirt and rapping's. His baggy black pants were in poor shape as well with little slashes all over it. His black sandals were the only peace of clothing that was basically unscathed. When he finally took in his whole appearance, he grimaced at it and the dry blood that was mixed in with dirt on it.

Yet again, she could not hold in her giggle when she saw his expression "Not exactly how an heir to the Uzumaki thrown should look, is it?"

At that he looked down, clearly sad about something and when he spoke it confirmed that thought "Not now Nash…" he then sat down and continued to stare out at sea.

She frowned a little at that and went to sit down beside him before she spoke up again in a soothing voice "Hey… you know I don't care about all that. I was just joking… but do you wana talk about it?"

He looked up at her with a ghost of a smile tugging at his lips "We had another spar today…" When he said that he looked down again, it hurt him even talking about it but he knew that she would make him fell at least a little better "The things he said today… I mean does he not think he hurts me when he keeps talking about how much better he was at this age. Doesn't he know that I leaving everything I have on that sparing field? " He had to blink back a few tears at that statement.

Nasha looked at his down stricken face for a while, with a frown on her pretty face. No she could not really understand how he felt because the expectations that were put on him were never put on her. She did not know how it felt like to feel as if your best is never good enough, but she did see that it hurt him very much. She put a comforting hand on his shoulder "Hey Naru… you know you are better than what he says right? He might talk a big game but one day you, Uzumaki Naruto, will be the best and then he is going to be forced to give you the recognition that you deserve"

He looked up at her with a smile and gained a determined look on his face at that "Yeah, you are right Nash. It might not be now but he will give me the recognition I deserve!"

She chuckled at his statement a little and sprung up on her feet with a fist pump "Yes! Now that's the Naruto I know!"

This time it was his turn to chuckle at her antics "Haha… so Nash what were you doing, coming up here I mean"

She looked down at him with a confused face for a moment before proceeding to lay down on the grass beside him with her hands on her stomach "Well I came to hang out with you… since nobody else was available"

Naruto jumped on his feet in a flash and stood in a victory pose while facing Nasha "Haha cover up all you want Nash, you just can not get enough of the great, Naruto-sama!"

She giggled a little before quickly recovering "Ha! Yeah right idiot, like I'd ever call you that"

He looked down in amusement at her "We shall see my dear Nash, we shall see" then he continued to stare back out at sea only to see something on the far end of it "Hey Nash what do think that is back there?"

She lazily propped herself up by her elbows and stared in the direction of his finger. When she could make out something of a shadowy outline she squinted her eyes "I can't make out exactly what it is."

Naruto's eyes were also squinted by now, trying to figure out what it is they were looking at "Let's just wait a while and then we can see what it is"

She nodded at that and so they entered into a comfortable silence for the moment. However, when whatever it was came close enough for her to make out what it was she could not help but be a stunned "O no…"

Her voice came out as barely a whisper but he could clearly hear the panic in her voice as clear as day "What? What is it Nash?!" He did not know why but that tone in her voice set him on edge

Her eyes widened ever so slowly as she continued to look out towards the ocean "O no Naruto! We need to go now!" she suddenly jumped up in a panic and yanked on his arm so he would stand up quickly.

He looked at her in alarm and quickly jumped on his feet but grabbed her by the shoulders when she tried to run toward the village "Wait Nash! What the hell is going on?!"

She looked at him with a panicked expression and pointed wildly toward the sea "Can't you see?! Those are ships! A whole lot of ships! And they are not our ships!"

Naruto started in shock and quickly looked out toward sea. Now he could clearly make out the fleet of ships coming toward them. It littered the see for as far as he could see. And then his eyes widened in realization "O no, Nash we need to go now!"

Nasha glared at Naruto and pried herself from his hold before shouting at him "That's what I said idiot!"

But Naruto did not even wait for her to finish her rant before taking off at top speed toward the village in order to warn them incase they had not already seen the fleet coming in. His heart was pounding in his chest at this point, he could not believe how many ships he had seen on the horizon… was it hundreds? Or thousands? He did not know but what he knew was that the Uzumaki would be in for a proper fight if that fleet reached their shore.

Nasha looked at Naruto's back for a moment before taking of at full speed after him only one thought on her mind as she ran through the forest _'This is bad… this is really bad'_

**Uzushiogakure**

Uzushiogakure, the place where the Uzumaki clan ruled and thrived as a clan. It was quit the beauty to behold. As Naruto broke out of the tree-line the first thing he saw when he looked up at the hill that his home was built on was their massive gate. At the top of the hillside rested a large double gate with various sacred dressings inscribed upon it. The gate itself was about thirty feet wide and fifty feet high. The dressings of the gate included various sealing and barrier tags. The surrounding wall that stretched across all of Uzu was also inscribed with various sealing formula but they all formed separate circles in a straight line across the entire wall. He could already see the various rooftops of Uzu's highest structures peaking above the huge wall that protected the village. One could already tell by the roofs of those buildings alone that they were masterfully crafted in every way possible.

Next thing he noticed were all the lights that were going off in the five guard towers that also surrounded the village. Upon focusing more on one he could make out the many ninja running around them to get in position, and now that he refocused his attention on the gate of Uzu he could see that it was open and that there were a lot of ninja in grey flak jackets streaming out of it and blurring along the ground to get to the shore as quickly as they possibly could. Then he took notice of the ninja that were positioning themselves on the wall, two at every circle that the seals made. He never really paid attention when his mother explained about those seals so he did not really know what they did, but he suppose he would find out soon enough. Then he saw his father appear upon the gate of Uzu in his formal Uzukage wear that consisted of white robe with the orange Uzumaki insignia on the back.

Then Nasha finally caught up to him "God damn it Naruto you have at least waited for me to catch up."

Naruto started at the sound of her voice and then had the decency to look embarrass by his actions "Well…uhm… I had full confidence in your ability to catch up to me?" that came out more as a question than a statement, and he knew it.

She just stared at him exasperated by his excuse but decided to focus on more serious matters "So what do you think we should do Naru?"

He looked ahead to stare at his father that stood on the gate of their village with a stern look on his face "I'm going to fight with my father. Today is the day that I show him that I am a worthy heir to the Uzumaki and that I am a son to be proud of."

Nasha looked at Naruto with clear concern on her face "But Naru…what if you…" she could not even finish that thought because it was just too terrible to think about.

Naruto looked at his only true friend. The only person that he could ever be truly honest with and the only one that was completely honest with him as well. They had trusted each other since they were kids and had been friends for a long time so he knew what she felt at this moment, hell he felt it too. "I know Nash, I'm afraid too… but no matter what, this is our land, our home and it is our duty to protect it with our lives if need be. I promise you that I'll survive this as long as you promise me the same thing."

She looked into his bright purple eyes that were set into a firm gaze on her and she knew that he meant what he had just said… but how could she just promise to stay alive at a time like this? It was about to be complete mayhem around them, however she would try her hardest to come out of this alive "I promise Naruto-kun"

His eyes slightly widened at the affectionate suffix that she had just used in his name because no matter how close they were she had never called him that. In fact he had not heard her call any guy by that suffix ever. Did that mean something? No he could not get distracted now "Good because if you die on me I'll drag your ass back from the after-life and kick your ass!"

She snorted at that and giggled a little "hmphf… you can try"

And with that last exchange of words they sped up and ran the rest of the way in silence.

**On the gate of Uzu**

Miroko Uzumaki stood atop his villages' gate and looked toward the shore, where an army was about to invade his nation from, with a stone cold expression on his face. He could not believe that it had come to this. No matter how many times he tried to tell the other villages that Uzushiogakure was no threat to their way of life, the more they insisted that they were a threat. However, he had prepared for this day to come; He did not however expect so many to come at a time. Who had allied with whom? He could not say, but he knew the Uzumaki would stand until the last ninja and they would certainly not go down without a fight.

He just hoped that the team he sent out to the emergency exit cleared a path for the young to escape through, incase they did infact fall on this day, so that the Uzumaki bloodline may continue to prosper. Then something caught his eye across the plain that separated the village from the tree line, it was two figures blurring across the clearing. On closer inspection, he could see it was his son.

'_Naruto, my son, I'm so sorry that you are going to have to see something as awful as this so early in your life but I promise you that I will try my best to make you live through the hell that is about to befall us'_

He absentmindedly watched as his son and Nasha climbed the gate to get to him. Then Nasha sprinted directly past him and into the village after a quick goodbye to Naruto and respectful greeting to him, Naruto however stood right beside him.

Naruto looked at his father with a little hesitation before speaking, because he knew his father would not go along with his plan "Father I'm going to be fighting alongside you" he looked at his father with a stern and determined, look ready to defend his views on this.

Miroko looked at his son for a moment with an appraising look about him, taking care to make Naruto uncomfortable under his gaze, before he finally decided to speak "I would expect nothing less of you, as the heir to my seat you must prove yourself in some way today."

Naruto grit his teeth at that _'He will never think I am good enough, but I'll show him.' _With that thought in mind, Naruto turned his head around to look out at the shore alongside his father, his eyes set in a glare toward the oncoming fleet. Now that they were close enough, he could make out the Kiri village symbol painted upon the flags of the various ships. Apparently, they did not care if the Uzumaki knew who was attacking them.

He watched in morbid fascination when the fleet aligned in a horizontal line, and connected with each other… and was that shinobi that came to the front of the ships? Then his fascination turned into horror as each shinobi made a whirlpool of their own that spun in the opposite way of the whirlpools that were in the ocean, and then the whirlpools of the shinobi shot at the whirlpools in the ocean. He slightly sighed in relief when he saw that the whirlpools of the ocean were still intact but then the shinobi continued to attack with the same jutsu over and over until, to Naruto's silent horror the whirlpools of the ocean stopped rotating all together.

"Father what do we do now?" Naruto did not mean to, but his voice slightly cracked by his nervousness.

Miroko looked at his son with an unreadable expression and spoke in a monotone "We fight; we fight until we can't anymore… and then we push through our limits to fight even harder."

Naruto stared at his father for a moment and then he focused on getting his nerves in order. There was no room for fear now. He had to fight in order to protect his family.

**On the shore**

The Uzumaki gathered there could not really believe what they had just witnessed. Their first line of defense was destroyed in such a short time! However general Kage had been through enough battles to quickly snap out of his stupor in order to organize his men to make sure that most of them survived

"Ok you babies! Get your asses in gear and go to formation delta! Do not let them get onto this shore or you will die!" With his pep talk complete, he watched as his men formed five lines of six earth users in front to protect and long range support behind them. Then there were the ten shinobi drawing up their last ditch effort of protecting Uzu… if it came to that, but he was sure that it would infact come to that because there were just too many.

When the fleet was in range of at least a good water jutsu, he ordered his men to begin their assault on the invaders "ATTACK! SHOW THIS SCUM WHAT THE UZUMAKI ARE MADE OF!"

His men answered his command by a loud roar, as they agreed with every word he had said, and soon enough **Water Dragons** and more **Whirlpools** were attacking the fleet. As most had been caught off guard at least half of the frontline ships were sunk in the pre-emptive strike against them. But, then more water dragons were summoned to fight off those that were attacking the ships and counter whirlpools were sent to those sinking their ships. However the Uzumaki were unperturbed by this and continued their assault on the ships, intent on sinking as many as they could so that the survivors would at least drown at the cause of the under water whirlpools and strong currents. And then when the ships were in range Kage shouted out a new set of commands to his men.

"NOW ATTACK WITH THE EXPLOSIVE KUNAI AS WELL!"

As soon as those words left his mouth, he and a lot of the other Uzumaki let loose a volley of kunai with explosive tags attached to their ends. He smiled when he saw most of them hit their targets and upon detonation huge explosions were heard and definitely seen throughout the island of Uzu. However as soon as those ships sunk more took their place and when they came into formation they too let loose a volley of kunai, which probably had explosive tags attached to them too, and they covered the sky in black as if it were raining kunai of death upon the defending Uzumaki on the shore. When Kage saw the sheer quantity of the attack his eyes widened for a second before he composed himself and he gave out his orders "ACTIVATE THE BARRIER SEALS! AND PUT UP SOME EARTHWALLS DAMNIT!"

His men looked a little panicked by the attack coming their way but they trusted their general and so followed his orders to the point. The second line of every squad formed quickly went through hand seals and shouted "**Sealing Technique: Protective Barrier **".

Then the first line went through their hand seals and when they ended all of them slammed their hands onto the ground and collectively shouted "**Earth Style: Earth Wall Technique**". They could not have put up their defense any sooner then that, because not a single second later had the earth walls been created were multiple explosions heard.

The Uzumaki in charge of defense thought they had came through it unscathed, but then more explosions rocked their defense and then more and more, just when Kage thought that they were mince meat the explosions stopped abruptly and the walls were cautiously lowered, however the barriers were left up. When he saw why they had stopped his eyes widened. Dozens of **Water Bullets** were heading their way, and behind those were **Water Dragons**, charging in their direction. He could not believe what he was seeing, how could they survive this?

'_No I can not think like that right now. My men need me at my best.' _He steeled himself in order to get his emotions in check. "Ok, put up as many **Water Walls** as you can! AND ATTACK WITH **WATER** **BULLETS** FROM THE **WATER** **WALL**!"

His orders were met with another roar of agreement, from his men, and he joined them as he kept most of the **Water** **Wall** up while others attacked with their **Water** **Bullets**. They continued relentlessly, no matter how out matched they seemed, and the match of water techniques clashing back and forth over the ocean became a stalemate. However, no matter how much the Uzumaki tried, they could not stop the seemingly endless stream of ships that came toward them and always filled in the gaps that a sinking ship would create.

Kage saw that it was only a matter of time before they would reach the shore and they could do nothing about it. However, a ghost of a smile stretched across the captains lips at the thought of the comrades he fought alongside today, he would be damned if they did not know that it was an honor fighting alongside shinobi with such courage. "COMRADES, IT HAS BEEN AN HONOUR TO FIGHT ALONGSIDE SHINOBI OF SUCH SKILL AND COURAGE TODAY. I WANT YOU ALL TO KNOW THAT IF I DIE TODAY. I DIE KNOWING THAT I TOOK 200 OF THEM WITH ME! SO DO NOT LAG BEHIND! THAT IS MY LAST ORDER TO YOU!"

His men were silent for a moment, and time seemed to stand still for them as they came to the same conclusion as their captain. Then, as they had done all day to the orders that they agreed to from their captain, they roared! But, this was the loudest one of them all, and then they let loose more kunai with explosive tags than ever seen on the battlefield. To add insult to injury for what appeared to be only Kiri ninja, they all went through hand seals at the same time in sync with one another, and simultaneously shouted **"Kunai Shadow Clone Technique!"**

It appeared to become night for a short period of time, because of how many kunai were actually in the air at that moment in time. Time seemed to have stopped for a short moment and everything moved in slow motion… but when a crack of sunlight peeked through the rain of kunai, everything went back to normal and the kunai rained true hell upon the ships they made contact. The screams of the shinobi on those ships were so loud and piercing that it almost breached the earsplitting sound of the explosion that caused them.

The Uzumaki that watched the explosion from shore roared even further at their small victory and this time their general joined their triumphant roars, causing them to roar even louder. They did not roar for long though because as soon as the flames from the explosion was put out, a new wave of ships came through the smoke like messengers of death and the Uzumaki readied themselves to do battle yet again. This time, however, the ships were close enough to let shinobi disembark and run across water to shore. As soon as the first one hit water, the others came out like ants crawling for food in their utopia. The Uzumaki looked toward their captain for leadership but the answer they received was their captain unsheathing his katana and charging forward with a battle cry. Then remembering their captain had given his last orders to them, they followed him into battle with all their various weapons and their own battle cry.

Kage looked in front of him with a sneer on his face as he encountered the first ninja of the hoard that had disembarked from the ships, and spun through his defenses to slice an artery in his throat open. He did not bother to duck under the resulting spray of blood and went onto his next victim, this one putting up more of a fight than others because he blocked the first two slices to vital points but was completely surprised by a kunai piercing his kidney. Kage could not believe how easy this was and quickly moved on only to have to block five kunai that would have killed him on contact.

He looked toward the assailant and sneered at him; he was obviously one of the better ones so he charged at him while withdrawing a kunai to accompany his kenjutsu and quickly engaged in a fierce battle of kenjutsu with this, obviously jounin. When he made a quick stab motion for the heart the jounin deflected it and thrust his own kunai towards Kage's neck, but years of battling had honed his reflexes so much, so that he easily dodged that attack and soon after they disappeared into yet another fierce battle of kenjutsu. Kage was quickly realizing that this battle was going nowhere and he needed to move on, so when he came in close again he fainted a slice with his katana only to thrust towards his opponent's kidney with the kunai. When his opponent blocked that with a smirk on his face, Kage frown, however that frown quickly turned into a smirk when a golden chain stuck out the mans stomach and he coughed up blood. Kage immediately discarded the man and moved on.

**On top of the village gate**

Naruto watched in silent awe as his kin, his family and his comrades fought against all odds, completely outnumbered and yet dealing devastating blows to the invading forces numbers and they did all this without any fear of dying. He had heard the captains' last command to his men and had seen the subsequent hell they unleashed upon the invading party. He was shivering from the inspiration that his kin was instilling within him. He had finally seen what it meant to truly be an Uzumaki. Being an Uzumaki meant that they would stare fate in the eyes and bitch slap it into next week, if it was not in their favor, and then go on to beat the odds and come out on top. Why did they do this? Because they were family and family protected one another. _ 'So this is what an Uzumaki is? …then I'll show father that I am one" _he smirked at that thought.

His father however took his shivering for fear "I'll protect you if need be, son"

Naruto looked at his father with a real smile at the thoughtful gesture he had expressed, but he would correct him about his feelings. "I'm thankful that you would, father, but I'm not shivering because of fear. I am shivering because I am excited to finally show you that I am worthy of being an heir to your throne. I know what it means to be an Uzumaki now"

Miroko looked at his son with eyes that Naruto had never seen his father look at him before, was he proud? The look quickly vanished however and Naruto wondered if it was even there in the first place. "I hope you live up to your word then"

Naruto grit his teeth, and glared out at the invading force. He would show him.

**With general Kage**

He did not know how many he had cut down, but he knew it must have been over the two hundred he had promised his men he would take out at the beginning of this close combat battle. As he dared to look around him he could see ninja blur around at blinding speeds and hear the sound of metal meeting metal, he could also hear the occasional scream of pain when a deathblow was not immediate. However he knew if he was almost dead on his feet then his men were nearly there too, so when he felt he could not go anymore, he dug deep within himself and brought out the stuff that made all Uzumaki who they were: pure willpower not to give up. He continued to fight on through his exhaustion and gave another war cry to push his men into their own second wind. Captain Kage was not disappointed by his men because right after he gave his war cry, the men that he had left on the battlefield roared their support to their captain and fought with new vigor.

As thoughts of victory on the shore actually started to creep into the captains' head, and praises of their victory for him and his men, he could not help but let a small proud smile spread across his bloodied lips. Then those thoughts were promptly crushed and his small smile turned into a deep scowl when even more shinobi disembarked from the seemingly countless ships that kept on coming. His men had performed beyond what was expected of them today so he could not have asked anymore from them, they owed him nothing more. When he charged into the oncoming hoard of shinobi and kunoichi with his last battle cry, bloody katana at the ready, he did not ask them to follow him. Nobody would hold it against them if they turned back and went back to the village to rest for a while, so imagine his surprise when he heard his men's own battle cry behind him as they charged after their captain. He glanced back and saw his last remaining twenty men charge behind him with pure determination in their eyes. He turned back around and began his battle to the death with a proud smile on his face the entire time.

**On the gate of Uzushiogakure**

Miroko Uzumaki looked at his men with a proud smile plastered on his face as they fought to the last Uzumaki on the shore. That battle would be the stuff of legend if they were to survive today. He looked around him and saw each of his comrades with serious expressions on their faces and he decided to ignite the one emotion that outweighed pure determination in an Uzumaki: revenge for their kin. He decided to enhance his voice with chakra when he spoke up to them

"MY BROTHERS AND SISTERS… YOU HAVE SEEN HOW OUR COMRADES HANDELLED BEING OUTMATCHED AND YOU HAVE SEEN HOW THEY SURPASSED ALL EXPACTATIONS AND DEALT DEVASTATING DAMAGE TO OUR ENEMY! I FOR ONE AM INSPIRED BY THEM AND I WILL NOT LET THEIR DEATH BE IN VEIN! AS I STAND HERE, I SWEAR THAT I WILL DO EVERYTHING I CAN, AND IF THAT IS NOT ENOUGH, I WILL DO MORE! I WILL AVENGE MY FALLEN COMRADES!"

He saw their eyes light up with controlled fury and then they roared their agreement with his statement. When they saw him roar back, they doubled their efforts. Then Miroko turned to look at his son "Get ready" At Naruto's nod he turned back to his comrades on the wall "ARM THE SEALS!"

Naruto watched with some curiosity as his father and every other ninja on the wall crouched down to put their hands on a little square seal. Then the seals that formed circles along the wall in a horizontal manner and the one on the gate started to pulse with energy and gave off an ominous hum to Naruto's ears. He was about to ask his father what the seals did when huge explosions suddenly rocked the shoreline with bodies flying everywhere. Naruto stared in shock at the sight of it. "Wow dad did you just do that?!"

Miroko chuckled at his son before answering "Haha… no son that was a parting gift to our enemies from our fallen comrades"

Naruto was speechless for a moment before finally asking what he wanted to in the beginning "Then what do these seals do?"

Miroko stared at his son in exasperation for a moment "You really do not know?"

Naruto gave a sheepish grin and rubbed the back of his neck in embarrassment "Well… I did not think it would be important"

This time Miroko gave him a deadpan look because he could not afford to face fault "Well, just watch then."

Just then there was a stream of shinobi and kunoichi that came running out of the tree line towards them "FIRE!" Miroko's voice rose above the attacking parties' war cry and after that the sky that had gone somewhat dark from night beginning to creep over the land, lit up like a flare as the seals on the wall lit up and exploded outward with massive bursts of chakra. It mimicked the blast of a cannon only MUCH more destructive, the oncoming ninja had no chance and everyone in range was instantly killed.

Naruto was almost blown off the gate by the shockwave that followed the blast, and had he not anchored himself with chakra he would have. But now he stared at the battle field before him in complete and utter shock. How could he have thought that these seals were not important when they just did that?

"B-B-but …why didn't we do this in the first place instead of sending our comrades to their death!" After he came over his shock, he was furious at his fathers' decision.

On the other hand, his father was completely calm "Because, Naruto, in big armies like this only one strategy works for the invading party. Send in the weak to do damage before the strong come in to sweep up" He refocused on channeling the cannon again before speaking "And by us sending in a team to wipe out the weak, left us with a clear path to decimate most of their strong before going in ourselves"

Naruto looked confused at that "Why go in when we have these!"

His father looked quite irritated by Naruto at this point "You should have really listened when your mother taught you these things… anyway we can only use these seals two times before our wall collapses in on itself."

He looked at his father in shock now "But we will be open for attack then!"

His father nodded in agreement "Yes, I am aware of that, that's why you should prepare yourself for the fight for your life, boy"

Naruto recognized that his father was quite irritated by him questioning his decisions so he decided to go back to molding his chakra just under his skin "Fine then." and then a new wave of ninja came out of the tree line and the same blinding light accompanied by the rather loud noise of the cannon like seals going off. This time there were dozens of **Earth** **Wall** waiting for the blasts. Too bad for them that the blasts went through those walls like a hot kunai through pigskin and even became brighter and bigger. However, this time Naruto felt the gate he stood on give in so he jumped off and once he saw his father charging into battle he followed him. Not even a second later the Uzumaki who were on the wall and those who were behind the wall all charged after them to fight to their deaths if need be.

Naruto could barely believe his eyes as he stared at the oncoming enemy, he only had one thought of exasperation before going into battle mode and that was _'How many are there!' _and then he entered the fray of battle with twin daggers ready for the kill, however he had to dodge a sword slash. When he finished dodging, he noticed that his already dangling flak jacket and shirt were now on the ground and he had a long thin slash across his body that drew a little blood. The shinobi stared at Naruto and laughed, "Wow, you are pathetic…"

He did not get to finish his sentence because Naruto had blurred out of sight and swiftly chopped off his head with one dagger. Naruto glared at the man for a second before taking of to take out more shinobi in order to help his clan survive the hell that had descended upon them and so he thrust his daggers into a ninja already in the fray with another Uzumaki. They shared a brief nod before starting to team up on surrounding ninja and quickly clearing their little spot. Upon closer inspection, they saw that other Uzumaki had the same idea and so with another nod Naruto and his new brother in arms began to plow through ninja before them in what could have been mistaken for a veteran team at work because they worked so well together. He thought that it was probably their common goal that brought their minds in sync with each other.

As his partner dashed forward at a particularly skilled opponent and slid under him blocking a strike to his head, Naruto instantly knew what he wanted and so he dashed forward as well and when his opponent tried to block he was killed by a kunai to the heart from his back. His partner and he met eyes for a while, bright purple meeting darkish purple, and he swore that his partner wanted to know how they could work so well together too but they both understood that they just needed to thank their luck and move on. And that they did, fighting and killing whoever came before them until they came in front of a group that had white masks on with the Iwa insignia inscribed on it. It would be four on two here.

For the first time since they met up his partner spoke to him "Well comrade, if I do not make it out of this one alive. It was fun hey, we could have been best buds, and names Yohei by the way."

Naruto chuckled "Yeah we could have, and names Naruto, partner."

Yohei laughed at that "Haha… I know that but let's finish this."

As soon as he said that, the Iwa nin blurred into action and so did Yohei, Naruto not wanting him to fight alone joined in on the action. He immediately concluded that if he did not fight smart here then he would be dead in a matter of moments and it looked like Yohei was coming to the same conclusion. When Naruto threw a kunai at his opponent and he dodged, Yohei immediately went after him. When Yohei's opponent followed him with his eyes, he was impaled by a lightning coated chakra dagger right in the heart. When Naruto looked at his opponent who had dodged, he saw that he was without a head now, however he had no time to bath in the greatness that was their teamwork because his instinct screamed at him to dodge, and dodge he did. Only to see one of the Iwa nin flying over him with an outstretched arm. He took that opportunity to stab the ninja in the armpit, burying the dagger hilt deep, and a sure death.

When Naruto took an opportunity to look around the battlefield, he wished he had not, because what he saw scared Naruto like nothing had before. There in his line of sight was his best friend fighting to the best of her ability and winning against her opponent, but that was not what scared Naruto at all. It was the Kumo Nin coming straight for her back with a sword ready to pierce her through the kidney.

Naruto screamed and his chakra surged in his body so he could run faster to her aid but when it was apparent that he would not make it, he channeled more and more chakra to the point that it irritated his back as if something wanted to come out. Therefore, he let it out and to his surprise; golden chains shot out of his back and flew toward the Kumo nin in blinding speed, impaling him through the neck and head.

Naruto stared at the chains in wonder for a moment but then recalled them and raced towards Nasha. Blurring past her and impaling her opponent through the eyes with two daggers. He completely surprised Nasha but when she saw who it was she became mad as hell "Kami damnit Naruto! I had that!"

Naruto turned around and looked at her with almost lost eyes, then pointed at the Kumo nin "Well, did you have that Nash?"

She looked around and stared at the Kumo nin in confusion "what do yo…"

She did not get to finish because Naruto had interrupted her "He was going to kill you! If I had not unlocked my kekkei genkai… you would…" He had to look away as a few tears wanted to escape their jail in his eyes but Nasha had realized what he implied.

"Naruto… I…" She looked down not knowing what to say so he had to say something.

"Come with me. I found this great fighting partner. We will keep each other safe" He tugged at her arm as to say she had no real choice, not that she would have refused

"Ok let's go"

**With Miroko**

Miroko was dancing his way through enemies and slicing down those that stood in his path with minimum effort. He was doing it with a smile on his face because he knew that they had no one that could stand up to his skill in combat or sealing mastery. Just then, he noticed three people make their way towards him in particular, now normally he would not care but the people that were running toward him were the respective Kage of Kiri, Iwa and Kumo. Miroko looked at them with impassive eyes and unsheathed his twin katana in reverse grips, settling into a defensive stance, but that was not enough and when the three legends came close enough he let six chains with kunai like tips burst out of his back and sway around him menacingly. As soon as they came to a halt and stared at him the other ninja in the vicinity had the know it all to get out of their way. Miroko looked the three Kage over with unimpressed eyes.

First it was the Tsuchikage who was already an old man with a bristling moustache and long beard, both of which had dark highlights running through them alternately. He was apparently squinting at him for some reason, poor eyesight perhaps? He was also wearing the traditional Kage attire- consisting of customary hat and cloak – over a dark, loose-fitting, full-length gown that was tied using a lighter sash around his waist. He was also short in comparison with the others but wielded a rather large sword, which he would have to be careful of.

Second was the Mizukage who had copious amounts of long, grey hair along with a long moustache, and beard that merged into one and all of which almost covered the entirety of his face. He had a scar that ran across his left eye, which was apparently blind by the looks of it. Attire-wise, he wore a simple, light-colored, loose-fitting kimono over a pair of dark pants. His left eye is black and his right eye is purely white, which lead him to believe that it was blind.

Lastly, it was the Raikage who was a dark skinned man with prominent creases under his eyes and a mop of shaggy black hair, which partially obscured his headband. In terms of attire, he wore a high-collared dark kimono-shirt, dark pants bound by a sash. He also wore small stud-earrings.

When Miroko was finished taking in their appearance he scowled at them, but quickly brought his emotions into check in order to fight with a focused mind "So, you are so weak that you need to fight my people with three nations in order to at least stand a chance. No wonder you cower before us."

The Raikage scowled at him for that statement "Shut up you worm! Today every last one of you Uzumaki trash die!"

Miroko slightly narrowed his eyes and his chains started to vibrate in anticipation of what was to come "You dare call my people trash, you coward! You are not even worthy of walking on these sacred lands!"

The Tsuchikage for one had had enough of their banter and begun to stroke his beard. "Yes, yes sacred lands and what not… I get it. But really now you must die Miroko-dono"

The Mizukage gave a hearty laugh at that "Yes! You really must!"

Miroko knew he would not be able to survive this fight, he could possibly take on two at a time but three shinobi of their skill was impossible even for him, but he would try his damnist to take them down with him. So he smirked at them "I may die here today you fools, but my people will live on and they will prosper far above your own ever will! And you will die here as well!"

As soon as he said that, he unleashed his chains upon the Kage with deathly precision and everyone but the Tsuchikage dodged, he just deflected them with his sword and blurred toward him. However, Miroko did not let him get close enough and sent a **Fireball** straight for him. The strange thing was that the Tsuchikage did not stop his charge and it was apparent why when a water bullet completely nullified his fireball, then his senses told him to block to the left and that he did, soon metal meeting metal rang through their small space and the resulting shockwave sent a gust through it. He then came face to face with a smirking Raikage so he did the only thing he could and head-butted him as hard as he could before kicking him in the side.

When he felt the Tsuchikage almost upon him he sent all six of his chakra chains to distract him and quickly sent a **Lightning** **Dragon** toward the Mizukage who was apparently the long-range fighter. He did not expect an **Earth** **Wall** to erect and then hear multiple wasps coming toward him. When he looked around and saw it was indeed wasps he quickly went through seals and inhaled deeply "**Fire style: dragons breath!**" when he finished saying that, he let out a huge amount of fire that incinerated the oncoming wasps. Miroko quickly created six more chakra chains and sent them straight toward the recovering Raikage but unfortunately had to dodge a barrage of kunai that came from the Mizukage, having had enough of playing around he pulled six explosive tags from his pocked and attached them to his chains.

When he was done he put his fingers in a cross and called out his next jutsu "**Shadow Clone Technique!**" Then standing before the three Kage were nine Miroko's and they all had six chains vibrating behind them with explosives attached to each one. Without waiting for them to prepare any defense he unleashed the chains upon them with murderous intend.

The Tsuchikage flew up into the sky when he saw what was coming their way, the Mizukage created a very dense wall made of water in front of him but the Raikage did not react fast enough and when the explosions went off he was caught in the chest by them and sent through the air, bloodied and dying. While Miroko was waiting for someone to come through the smoke he did not expect for the Tsuchikage to come out of the sky and attack from there. If it were not for his finely tuned instincts that let him dodge to the left he would not have only received a deep gash in his arm, but much more.

Miroko cursed under his breath when he tried to move his right arm _'Damnit, how could I have been so careless! Now I only have one arm that is useful.' _It was true, the gash was so deep in his shoulder that it probably went halfway through the bone and now, his arm was useless.

The Tsuchikage floated in front of Miroko, just out of lunging range, and smirked at him "It's all over now isn't it Miroko-dono"

Miroko sneered at him, losing his composure now that he knew he would not survive this. He watched as the Mizukage came to stand beside the Tsuchikage with an equally annoying smirk on his face and scowled even more _'I'm sorry I could not see you grow into a powerful shinobi my son.' _"I will not let you take my people with you!" And then he charged at them, all the while activating a seal on his chest that glowed brighter and brighter with each step he took and when they were in range he gave them a smirk of his own _"__**FUINJUTSU**__: __**DETHLY**__**HOLLOW**__!"_

As soon as he spoke those words a massive spiral was engraved into the ground. The Tsuchikage tried to fly away but he was sucked to the ground and it felt like a ton of boulders were thrown upon him. Looking at the Mizukage he saw that he was not doing so good either, then he looked at the smirking Miroko who was standing in the dead centre of the spiral. "Wha… what is this…" He could almost not speak those simple three words.

Miroko laughed at him and then glared "This is why you fear us!" He then went through hand seals and when he was done, a haunting tune began to play from somewhere. When the Tsuchikage and Mizukage heard the tune play they somehow knew it was over and they began to know what true fear meant. Miroko smirked at them for the last time "Now know the true power of the Uzumaki and die!"

Then everything stopped in the clearing as the haunting tune became louder and louder with each passing second, bringing fear to everyone that heard it, and the spiral lit up the entire night sky. Everyone stood still for a moment and the tune stopped playing suddenly. And…**BOOM! **There was a massive explosion and when the dust cleared the only thing that was left where the Tsuchikage, Mizukage and Uzukage once stood was a missive spiral on the ground. Everything was still for a few minutes until a very burned and wounded Raikage came staggering out of the tree line and called for his men to retreat. And seeing the Kumo nin retreat made the Iwa nin follow them in their retreat, seeing as Kiri did not have enough men to go through with the invasion they also fell back toward their ships.

**AN: Wow hey 1 December. Now you know what I've been doing! Yip, that's right I've been updating the chapters.**

**So follow if you like. Favorite too if you really like. I'd actually really like some reviews on this to give me motivation though**

**Anyway**

**Slade out**


	2. Chapter 2

**AN: So RoyaN G J asked me to supply a timeline and since I could not find out when exactly the Uzumaki were destroyed in the manga I have deduced that since Kushina was seemingly sent to Konoha just before the destruction of Uzu I'd say this story takes place during the third shinobi world war. This of coarse comes from the fact that Kushina has to be around the same age as Minato and he grew up and became a hero in the second shinobi war… crazy right? Well for me that is since he also became a sensei in that war, it must have been a long ass war and seeing as the current one is what? Two days long or something?**

**Anyway I might be wrong about this and my logic could be highly inaccurate but if I am, I blame it on Kishimoto and his fucked up timeline, so yeah enough of my rambling about that.**

**One last thing though… in response to LordHero's review: I'm grateful that you do not mind OC's because in this one I really have no choice but to make some, right? And to the whole violet eyes thing, yip I know not all the Uzumaki had them, that's why I made Nasha's green.**

**Disclaimer: I swear to you on my life that I do not own Naruto, in fact I did not even read chapter 695 that should show you how disinterested I am in the series right now**

'it is not so much you taking revenge that will scar you for the rest of your life, it's when you turn around and look at all the carnage you have left behind you that will'

**Now… it's finally time for the story, YAY!**

**Chapter two: friend or foe**

Once every enemy nin had fled the battlefield, silence descended upon it. The only sounds that could be heard were the labored breaths of the exhausted Uzumaki and the breeze that blew through it, but nobody moved. Every pair of eyes looked toward the huge spiral that was burnt into the ground, the place where their mighty leader had sacrificed himself in order to defeat two of the opposing leaders of the invading party. They could not comprehend that their leader, the mightiest shinobi their clan had seen in a long time had fallen in battle.

One shinobi came over his shock the quickest and stabbed his sword into the ground before kneeling on one knee in respect of his fallen leader. Soon every Uzumaki followed that one shinobi's lead to also pay their respects, every Uzumaki but one because Naruto could not believe what he was seeing. He stood stock still with wide and tearful eyes, but he refused to cry, he would never show such weakness in front of his clan. However, he could also not believe his father was gone. The man that he could not even lay a finger on a little earlier in the day.

***Flashback no jutsu***

As Miroko came charging at Naruto with two extended chains vibrating behind his back, ready to attack him, he jumped back to create some distance between them and then drew a seal on the ground as fast as his hands could before activating the seal that he just drew "**Sealing Technique: Barrier**". Then all around Naruto a barrier rose out of the ground, pulsing red kanji all over it. Naruto sighed in relief when he saw his barrier had been erected and that he was now saved from his fathers relentless attacking, if only for a moment. That relief, however, did not last very long when he heard a loud crack then a loud sound like glass breaking. His eyes widened when he realized what had just happened and dodged the oncoming kunai tipped chains, but just barely because he received multiple cuts on his clothes for it. When he landed he had no chance of recovery as his father dashed toward him, sword drawn, and slashed across his chest. Lucky for him it seemed like his father did not want to injure him and only damaged his flak jacked and clothes, before he fell over and his father put his sword to his throat.

Miroko looked down at his son with an impassive look on his face "Is that truly all you could have done, Naruto? That barrier could not even stop my chains, and I could have killed you multiple times after the barrier broke because you were so shocked that it did. You should have had a contingency plan at the ready for a situation like that."

Naruto tried to keep his fathers stare but could not help but lower his head in shame from the words that he just spoke "Yes, father"

Miroko withdrew his sword from his son's neck and sheathed it before turning around and walking away "Good, I expect you to do better next time. I do hope you plan to do better next time"

***flashback no jutsu end***

His mind just could not fathom that a person so much more powerful than him had been killed in battle, and yet he survived somehow. "Father…" It came out as nothing more than a whisper. He fell to his knees and lowered his head too, not knowing what else to do in this situation. How could he take over the Uzumaki clan when a greater man than he had held it before him? He would not be able to lead a clan when he was not the strongest among them. It would not be right. He stumbled to his feet and slowly walked toward the place where his father had fought his last battle, he had known that there was a chance that his father would not make it but it was something that he also believed would not happen. When his legs threatened to give way under him, he stumbled to the side but before he could fall far somebody caught him. He looked at the feminine hand that had stabilized him and slowly followed the arm toward the persons face with his eyes.

Soft green eyes stared at him with clear sadness in them. Nasha looked at Naruto's confused and sad eyes before she forced a smile on her face to cheer him up a little "Hey…" she said in a soothing voice. "We made it… We kept our promise"

He tried to say something to her but his voice was stuck in his throat so he just turned his head back towards the sight of his father's grave, so to speak. Nasha understood what he was feeling, but had no words to comfort him so she did the only thing she knew of that stood a chance to do that, she hugged him.

Naruto was a little shocked when Nasha hugged him, but after a few seconds he returned the hug and relaxed into her, however as soon as he did the emotional and physical exhaustion that he felt came crashing down on him and unconsciousness clamed him.

**Naruto's room: some time later**

As soon as consciousness returned to him the first thing he noticed was his very, very dry throat and he coughed a when he tried to breath through it. Then he felt that someone was holding his hand and he was lying in a comfortable bed. _'Hmm… wonder who is holding my hand'_ when he blearily opened his eyes his vision was foggy for a couple of a seconds, but when it turned to normal he turned his head around to look at the person who was holding his hand. When he saw who it was his mood instantly increased _'Mom?! So she survived!'_

There sitting next to his bed was his mother, still in her ripped battle clothing and a worried expression on her face. Her long light, almost pink like, red hair was stuck over her face, by the sweat, and covering most of it. It was also flowing over her grey flak jacket, which all Uzumaki ninja wore in battle and on missions, and under it peaked out some mash armor. The flak jacket itself was covered in blood, whether it was hers or her enemies he could not determine, but by the way it was sliced and torn in most places he could assume that at least some of it was hers. Her black baggy pants were also covered in slices and blood. In her hand that just peaked out of her long sleeve from her kimono, he could make out a wet cloth in her free hand. He frowned a little at that _'It seems that she has been taking care of me since I passed out…' _He gently squeezed her hand to wake her up. When his mother only groaned a little in her sleep he decide to get up and carry her to her bed, but when he tried to slowly take his hand out of hers to get out of bed she tightened her grip on his hand and opened her eyes to look at him. When he looked into the tired black eyes of his mother he could not help but sigh, she had probably been by his side the entire time and must have only fell asleep for a few minutes.

"Mom… you should be resting, you are injured"

She scoffed at her son for his ignorance "Hmphf… did you forget that I can heal from these injuries in a matter of hours, Naruto-kun?"

Naruto had the decency to look embarrest for forgetting that his mother had an incredible healing ability "Hehe… must have gotten a concussion?"

She smiled fondly at her son; no matter how smart he thought he was, sometimes he could just be so forgetful "Sure you did honey…"

He could see that she was not that happy now that he was really listening to the tone of her voice, so he decided to try and at least cheer her up "Mom, I…"

However before he had the chance to finish that sentence someone came barging in "Rida-sama! The retrieval team just came back saying that the Uzumaki that were sent to Konoha were apparently escorted back to Konoha by a large army"

Rida narrowed her eyes at that '_Large army? Then why didn't they come to help? We sent enough ninja to protect the children' _"Did they bring the children back home?"

The shinobi quickly shook his head at that "No, Rida-sama, they have already reached Konoha so the team came back in order to attend the ceremony for Miroko-sama and the other fallen"

Rida visibly flinched when the shinobi talked about her dead husband but kept her stone cold expression in order to stay strong for her clan "Ok then, I'll send a team to retrieve them after the ceremony tonight… you may go Furasshu-san."

Furasshu bowed respectfully toward their –now- leader and then quickly left the room. Naruto watched his mother for a moment and saw the sad expression in her eyes and how she could not even look him in the eyes, so he did the only thing that he could at that moment which was stand up from his bed and pull his mother into a very tight hug "I'm so sorry mom… but I want you to know that you don't have to hold it in with me"

Rida was a strong women and a very skilled kunoichi of the Uzumaki clan, she had seen many things in her life and even more since they entered the war as allies of the leaf. So it was understandable that she had not shed one tear since she saw her husband basically incinerate himself just four hours ago in a battle for their clans survival. She knew the risk, but when her son hugged her and said those soothing words to her she could not hold her pain in any more, and she let all her pent up feelings out. "*sniff* I can't *sniff* believe he's gone!"

Naruto watched his mother cry on his shoulder with eyes filled with tears too, he wanted to cry, but he could not, because he had to stay strong for his mother through this entire ordeal. "It's going to be ok, mom…" He did not know how but he would make everything work out somehow, someway.

His mother said nothing after that and just continued to cry for ten more minutes on his shoulder, making sure to get all of her pain out at that moment because she did not know when she would get such an opportunity again. After the ten minutes she sniffed for one last time before she spoke to him in a very soft voice "I waited till you woke up before I would start the ceremony for the fallen… we're going to use the spiral your… fa-father left as the memorial site for them all."

Naruto nodded at that, glad that his mother had waited for him, but sighed when realized that his father was indeed gone and that he would never again see him "I guess we have to get this over with… I'll get ready now mom" He gave his mother one last hug "You should too…"

Rida nodded at her son before she left his room to go get herself ready.

**The ceremony**

Naruto stood next to his mother in a black silk kimono that had a golden trim and an Uzumaki swirl over the place where his heart was. His mother had the exact same kimono on as he did but unlike him she did not have tears at the edge of her eyes as she spoke of the sacrifice of so many Uzumaki today. He admired his mother for hiding her pain from her family so effectively and find the strength to be a strong leader to them. He was so caught up in his musings that he missed his mothers' entire speech. When he saw that the ninja were walking toward the little shrine, that they had built, with flowers in their hands he put his own down and gave a prayer of thanks to those that sacrificed their lives for the other Uzumaki to survive. When he was done he slowly rose and started to make his way towards his favorite place to clear his head.

Nasha watched Naruto walk away from the ceremony in a daze, at first she wondered where he would be going at a time like this but when she recognized the direction in which he was walking she instantly knew where he was going, she decided to finish paying her respect to the fallen before going after him.

**Some minutes after that with Naruto**

Naruto had been thinking over his role in the village for quite some time now and he had come to one conclusion: he was not strong enough to lead a weakened clan in a time of war. But that could change, and he would make sure that it would change in the near future.

So rapt up in his musings was he that he did not even notice Nasha creeping up on him and hugging him from behind "You know, you will get emo real quick if you continue to brood like that"

At first he was startled to hear her speak to him but quickly relaxed into her hug after it faded "I think after this whole shinobi war has ended I'm going out to find myself Nash…"

She giggled at that statement. "And what would 'find myself' mean exactly?"

Naruto turned around in her hug and looked down at her to look into her eyes "If I was strong enough to join my father today in his fight then maybe… just maybe he could have survived"

Nasha frowned a little at that and then even more when she saw the sadness in his eyes "You know you're not weak Naruto…if…if it wasn't for you then I would be dead!"

Naruto smiled a little at that "You really scared me there, Nash, I mean REALLY scared me"

She smiled at that too "You can just say that you would not know what to do without me, Naruto-kun" Then she smiled teasingly at him.

Naruto smirked "Wouldn't you like that, you little flirt…" she mock glared at him for that statement "But you're right… I don't know what I'd do without you."

Her smile widened at that and before she knew it they were both staring deeply into each others eyes while slowly leaning in for what was to be their first kiss, she started to stand up on her toes to get in closer to him and he began to lean down. She could not believe it was finally happening after all the time she had been struggling to figure out if she truly had feelings for him, it turned out that she did. When she finally accepted it they had been friends for so long she did not know how to tell him… but now, now it was just happening. There was no need for words because it was automatic.

However just as their lips were about to meet a shinobi came bursting into their little spot "Naruto-sama! Rida-sama, requests your presence immediately!"

Naruto was visibly startled by the shinobi's interruption and pulled away from Nasha quickly and then blushed a little when he realized what he was about to do. "Ahh! I'm really sorry Nash… I don't know what came over me!" To emphasize his point he started waving his hands in front of him.

Nasha looked quite irritated at that point so she deduced that he must have thought that her expression was meant for him. She turned to the shinobi who looked very confused about Naruto's outburst and then glared at him "You have nothing to apologize for Naruto-kun, but he does!" and to get her point across she unleashed all of her killing intent.

The offending shinobi visibly paled when he saw the righteous fury that radiated from Nasha. And even though he did not know what exactly he had done to anger the girl he did not really have the balls to ask her at that moment… or rather he would have liked to keep his balls in tact and safe from her coming assault. So he did what any man would do when faced with an angry powerful women who demanded an apology… he begged for forgiveness "My humblest apology for my insolence Nasha-san! It won't happen again, I promise!"

Naruto looked on in amusement as Furasshu begged Nasha for forgiveness. He could clearly see the fear that was in his eyes while he rapidly bowed in front of the fuming kunoichi. He could not believe that she was not mad at him for trying to kiss her '_Does that mean she likes me too?...man that would be so cool!"._ But, he had to save Furasshu before Nasha tried to kill him, so he cleared his throat to get her attention "Yes, well Nash I don't think that you should attack my mom's personal help… I believe that won't go down as well as you expect." Nasha looked at him for a moment before she indignantly huffed and turned away from him. Naruto sighed, she could be so short tempered at times but decided to get Furasshu out of there too "Tell mom I'll be there in a moment Furasshu-san" Furasshu bowed thankfully at Naruto and then ran back to the village as quickly as his legs would carry him.

Nasha looked back at Naruto with the cutest pout that he had ever seen in his entire life "You know Naruto-kun, I was really looking forward to that…"

When he heard her say that his mood skyrocketed and the largest smirk he had ever had, plastered itself on his face "You mean it Nash?" he was hoping that she was not teasing him as she usually did… because the truth was that he had had a crush on Nasha since he first saw her.

Nasha grew a smirk of herself when she saw Naruto's "No, not really… I don't want things to get weird between us…"

When he heard that Naruto immediately face faulted "WHAAAAAAAT?!"

When she saw his reaction she could not help but break into full blown laughter at his expense. When she could finally calm down and only giggles escaped her moth she finally spoke up "Hehe… sorry, Naruto-kun… I just could not help it. But seriously though, I was looking forward to kissing you"

Upon hearing those words come out of her mouth Naruto's proverbial funk instantly vanished and he shot up to his feet and punched the air in victory "Yes!" then he ran forward and quickly took her hand while looking into her eyes "Let's just go see what my mother wants from me and then after that we can come back here and spend some time together, yeah?"

Nasha smiled at the thought of that "Yeah… sounds good to me"

**With Naruto and his mother**

Naruto was not happy at all. He had thought that he would just have a quick word with his mother and then after that he would go spend some time with the girl he had liked since he was but a child, the same girl who he had found out apparently liked him too. And now his mother had told him that he would need to go on a mission that would start immediately after they were done.

Naruto tried to keep his voice down but he just couldn't "What do you mean I need to do this?! Come on mom I have important things to do after this!" Well he did not need to tell her what exactly those important things were. "I just can't go"

His mother looked at him for a full minute and then smiled knowingly at him "You can spend time with your little girlfriend some other time son… but you will have to do this mission for me, I have a feeling that something is going to go wrong."

Naruto was going to ask what his mother thought was going to go wrong when he realized what she had initially said and then he blushed beet red, same colour as his hair in fact, and then he tried to splutter out a denial "Whaaaaat?!... bu… how?...we …" Then he deflated. "Damn, how do you always know everything mother?" He of course only remembered in the middle of his failed denial that his mother seemed to know everything somehow.

She chuckled at seeing her son so flustered but was happy that he found someone that could help him through a time like this in his life. And she was especially happy that it was Nasha, she really did like that girl because she reminded her of her younger self "Well… you know that information means everything to us Naruto-kun… and I certainly do not plan on revealing my spy to you"

Naruto threw a mock glare at his mother for that. "But come on mother, why do I need to go to Konoha to retrieve our kin? They can just come back or you can send someone else."

Rida fell silent at that and thought hard about how she needed to put her next words. "Well, Naruto you were in the room when Furasshu-san informed us that a large army was believed to have escorted the children and five adult shinobi that we sent away for protection back to Konoha am I right?" At his silent nod she decided to continue her explanation, "I could not understand how such a large army would be ready to escort our people back to Konoha and we could not even send out a distress call to Konoha because our communication seal had, for some reason, failed to work before the invasion started." At this she waited to see if Naruto had any questions what so ever, but when it was clear that he did not have any she continued. "So you can understand my concern about this issue and me wanting to send out a team of my own to go and get our kin from Konoha so that they can come home safely. However, I do not want to send a big team, just three or four skilled enough shinobi to make sure you all can return"

Naruto held up his hand to stop his mother right then and there "So you believe that Konoha has betrayed us and they want to take the children for themselves?" He could not believe that his mother would think such a thing about their only ally.

Rida narrowed her eyes at Naruto for a moment but then let her expression fall back to one without emotion and spoke in a cold and foreboding voice "I am saying that it is highly likely that they have. I do not know why they would do such a thing, but they have already taken one of my family to strengthen their military might so I will not allow them to take these children from their home."

Naruto had to suppress a shudder when he heard his mothers voice "O…k then. I'll take a team and go see what the big deal is with Konoha"

Rida nodded in agreement "And remember just three or four ninja… we don't want Konoha thinking we suspect them of betrayal."

Naruto had to scoff at that "Yeah… coz we don't do we?" And then he stood up to go and find three willing ninja to go with him.

**Outside the Uzukage building**

Naruto was thinking of a fool proof way of telling Nasha that they could not do what they had planned to do… and then preferably walk away unscathed and with everything in tact. This of course was proving to be very, very difficult and thus he was walking at his slowest speed to meet up with Nasha in the hopes of actually coming up with something. When he came out of the Uzukage building and saw her talking with some boy around their age, however, he picked up his speed to find out exactly who this guy was. When he came closer and closer he started to get bit jealous because they were laughing quite a bit so he tried to pick up his pace again.

The guy talking to Nasha suddenly saw him coming toward them and waved happily at him "Hey! Comrade nice to see you again!"

Naruto looked at the guy that was talking to him and scrunched up his face to try and remember just who he was… after about five seconds however he gave up "Huh… who the hell are you?"

The guy seemed to be genuinely hurt by that statement but when he spoke you could tell that he was just playing around "O you wound me so, comrade. It's me, Yohei! Dear Kami man we just went through an invasion together!"

Naruto deadpanned at him "Everyone went through that"

Yohei seemed to think about Naruto's statement for a moment "Ok, ok you got me there, but that aside we helped each other through it man!"

Naruto looked him over for a moment and then shook his head "Nope, I don't know you."

Yohei crossed his arms and snorted at him "Yes, you do."

"No, I don't man"

"Yes, you do!"

"Nope… never met you"

"Yes you have"

"Nope"

"Ok fine! Don't believe me? Ask Nasha-chan over here then."

Naruto glared at the guy who just dared to call his soon to be girlfriend by the affectionate suffix –chan "Hey who the hell do you…"

He did not get far as Nasha quickly interrupted him before he could say something offensive to Yohei "Naruto-kun! Don't you remember Yohei at all?" She knew that Naruto was sometimes very forgetful but to forget the person who helped you survive an invasion by three major villages, which also happened just about nine hours ago was just ridiculous.

When Naruto heard Nasha ask him if he could really not remember this guy he was very confused but nevertheless if she knew him then he must have just forgotten "Haha… of coarse I remember him!"

Yohei's face instantly lit up at that statement "I knew you remembered me!"

At that Naruto nervously scratched his head "Hehe… well you see… I… don't really" and so Yohei and Nasha face faulted "Hehe… sorry?"

Yohei though would not let his spirit be dampened like that because he knew that he could get Naruto to remember "No worries comrade! All you need is a reminder of some sort! Hmmm… perhaps a dangerous mission, yes?"

Naruto had the brightest idea at that point "Yeah, yeah you are absolutely right! How about you come with me on a mission today infact?"

When those words left his mouth of coarse the still grounded Nasha decided to jump up on her feet and point an accusatory finger at Naruto, accompanied by a glare "What do you mean today?! The day is almost over and we still have a date!"

Now of coarse Naruto was sweating like a pig caught at an Uzumaki roast "Uh… well you see Nash… I was kinda forced to take this mission… you understand right?"

By the way Nasha was fuming and struggling to control herself, the killing intent she was leaking and Yohei who was slowly backing away from her she was most definitely not understanding. So he had to quickly find a way out of this, preferably alive as he had decided before he even came there "BUUUUUT… that got me thinking too…" _'think, think, think man! What did it make you… ahh!" _"That we should really go on a real date… like a fancy place for dinner and what-not, am I right?"

Nasha wanted to scream at him for something but the more she thought about it, the more it made sense too… she was not going to tell him that of coarse so she just huffed and looked away "Fine…"

At first Naruto thought she was kidding so he kept on high alert for ten more seconds and seeing Yohei giving him the thumbs up, he smirked _'Naruto you sly fox you'_ "Also if you could maybe help me out with being my third member in the team I'll need…"

Nasha did not even let him finish explaining about the mission "No, I still need to do my part on cleaning up the mess around the island."

Naruto looked a bit downtrodden at that "O… well do you maybe know someone I can ask?"

She pondered that question for a bit "Yeah I think Hikari-san will be available"

"Hikari-baka? Come on Nash you know that guy hates me!" Naruto was beginning to think that she wanted to punish him.

Nasha just looked at him with a confused look "What? But Hikari-san is the nicest person I have ever met in my life"

Yohei decided to put his two cents in too "Yeah comrade, he is"

Naruto deadpanned at them "And that is exactly why I don't like him! He is way too nice for my liking. No one is that nice."

It was now their turn to deadpan at him. Nasha was of course the one to voice her opinion first "Just go ask him already!"

"Ok… ok fine I'll go. Yohei go get ready we leave in fifteen minutes, and we'll meet at where the gate is suppose to be." When Yohei gave him a quick salute and then used shunshin to go to his place, Naruto sighed and looked at Nasha with pleading eyes "I'm really sorry Nash… you know I tried to argue with mother but she thought that this was really important"

Nasha could not help but smile at him "It's ok, Naruto-kun… I'm just a bit disappointed that's all."

Naruto caressed her cheek and twirled a lock of her hair in his hand "Hey… I promise when I come back you will have the best date of your life."

She giggled at that "It's gonna be the first date of my life you dummy."

He chuckled at that too "Exactly! So technically it will be the best."

That of course made her giggle even more "Why do you have to make it so hard to stay mad at you huh?... just get out of here and be safe."

He gave her a quick hug before he left "Yeah, I'll be as safe as I can… but now I need to go talk to that baka" Then he took off in the direction of Hikari's house.

Nasha could not understand how Naruto could not like Hikari because he really was the nicest person she had ever met in her entire life… but Naruto probably had his reasons.

**Outside Hikari's house**

Naruto had been knocking for two minutes now and after continuously increasing the volume of his knocking he finally gave up and decided to go get someone else, however just as he was turning around he saw Hikari walking at a fairly slow pace toward his home. Naruto observed the twenty year old for a while with narrowed eyes. He was a young man with an androgynous appearance. He had long dark red hair tied in low pony tail, very pale skin and light blue eyes, which almost made him seem blind. He had on a white, long-sleeved kimono with red and orange designs on it, which could be taken as signs for the Uzumaki clan symbol. To Naruto this guy was just way too creepy with his pale skin and light blue eyes… and his constantly nice attitude, but he needed at least one more ninja for his team and Hikari was definitely skilled enough.

When Hikari saw Naruto at his gate his eyes slightly widened in surprise but he quickly regained his composure and let a smile snake up his face "Ahh… Naruto-sama, what a pleasant surprise to find you here today."

Naruto looked at the creepy smile on Hikari's face and almost shuddered at it "Hikari-san… I have come to ask if you would be willing to come on a mission with me."

Hikari seemed to ponder his request for a moment before he answered "Why yes of course, Naruto-sama… it would be an honor in fact."

Naruto could not keep his eyes off that creepy smile _'Bah! What is it with this guy?' _"Yes… well we leave in ten minutes… please be where the gate use to be by then" and with that Naruto used the fastest shunshin he could to get out of there.

Hikari chuckled to himself when he saw Naruto excuse himself so quickly, but never the less went inside his home to get ready for whatever they were going to be doing.

**Where Uzushiogakure's gate use to be**

When Naruto had arrived at the meeting place, Yohei had already been waiting for him and ever since been trying to convince him that they did in fact know each other. Personally Naruto thought he was just crazy.

Yohei unsheathed his sword and dramatically pointed at it "You see this sword comrade?! This sword right here saved your life ten times!"

Naruto was a little offended by that, "WHAT! Ten times?! Bitch please now I know you are a lying!"

Yohei froze and started sweating a little "Ok… ok maybe I exaggerated a little, but the fact remains that I did in fact save you man!"

"Dude I think I would have seriously remembered you if that hap…"

"Ahh Naruto-sama… O and Yohei-san? How nice of you to join us"

The two spun around in the direction of where the voice was coming from and Naruto grimaced a little when he saw Hikari and his trademark creepy smile… for him at least. Yohei however had a huge smile when seeing the man "Hikari-san! Good to see you man! Now we can finally get this show on the road man"

Naruto wasted no time at that "Yes, let's move out. Our destination is Konoha." And with that they took off at blazing speed to get to the dock.

**Next morning at Konoha main gate**

Naruto had decided that their little group take a break during night and had camped near a stream. They continued their journey early in the morning to be able to reach Konoha at an acceptable hour. When they arrived, they had to wait ten minutes for the guards to get them clearance because they had apparently not believed that they were indeed Uzumaki coming to get their kin back, and now they had been waiting for twenty minutes outside of the Hokage's office and Naruto was getting really, really irritated by the second. "What the hell are they talking about in there…"

Yohei stopped stuffing his face with some dango that he had bought on his way there "I have no idea… but these things are really good man… just wish they had cheese puffs here."

Hikari looked up from his tea with a thoughtful look "I too wonder what they are talking about"

Naruto looked at Hikari with a deadpanned look "Tea? Where the hell did you get that?"

Hikari smiled at Naruto "Simple storage seal fused with a heat seal of coarse"

That reminded Naruto of his ramen that he had stored in the same seal, but just as he was about to unseal it the door to the Hokage's office opened and out came, who Naruto assumed to be, the Hokage's secretary "You may come in now." Naruto just sighed and stood up to go inside. His companions followed his example.

**Inside the Hokage's office**

Hiruzen Sarutobi was not having a good day at all. He had spent months plotting on how to win this war and also strengthen his village so that they would be able to be the strongest village when the war was over. And because he was such a genius he had come up with the perfect plan, proving to his advisors why he was called 'the professor' yet again and that plan had succeeded after much plotting and what not, or so he had thought. Yesterday he had given the most heartwarming speech of his career as a ninja about the Uzumaki's fall and how tragic it had been, he had also promised to take care of all the refugees and had made them all Konoha ninja on the same day. He had thought that he could raise those kids to be loyal to Konoha and protect it, but apparently the Uzumaki had survived somehow. The mere thought of it was ludicrous, how could one clan stand against three major ninja villages? What the hell happened in that invasion. However that was something to figure out at a later date, right now he had a more immediate problem: the Uzumaki wanted their children back, which he could simply not allow at the moment. The only problem with that was that they had no concrete reason to keep the children in Konoha now other than saying that they were all Konoha ninja, and in the end they had decided to go with just that. When he saw someone come in through the door he put on his friendliest smile and gave them a warm greeting "Uzumaki-sans welcome, you must be tired? Take a seat so we can talk about why you are here."

Naruto looked at the older ninja who was acting so friendly toward him and observed him for a moment. He was a dark-skinned man with dark brown spiked hair. He also had a small goatee. He also had a single line running vertically under the outer corners of each eye. He was wearing the official uniform worn by the Hokage. Behind the Hokage stood three people, Naruto of course knew these ninja as the Sannin, and upon seeing them he stiffened just a bit. Never the less he did take a seat because he wanted to get this over with. "Hokage-sama"

Hiruzen smiled at the boy before him "Why don't you tell me why you are here Naruto-san?"

Naruto looked at the Hokage for a full minute, not caring what they took his silence and narrowed eyes for, because he certainly knew that they knew why he was there "I believe you know why I am here Hokage-sama, now if you do not mind I would like to take my kin and be on my way"

Hiruzen did not lose his smile in the least by the boy's direct nature "I'm afraid that can not happen Naruto-san"

Naruto narrowed his eyes even more at that "Why not?"

Hiruzen continued as if he did not notice the killing intent that Naruto was slowly beginning to leak out "Because Naruto-kun those ninja have already sworn loyalty to Konoha"

At that statement Naruto unleashed all his killing intent and glared at the Hokage, he was a little surprised when it was nullified by the Sannin as if it was nothing but kept his glare, and then spoke in the coldest tone he could "Hiruzen Sarutobi…" The Hokage was surprised by the disrespect, but had expected something like it "This Kami forsaken village has taken my aunt and little sister…" At this he rose out of his seat "You will hand over my people or regret the outcome of your foolishness."

Orochimaru glared at the boy that dared disrespect his teacher "Is that a threat boy."

Naruto returned his glare without flinching or backing down "No, that is the truth"

Hiruzen chuckled at Naruto's words "O come now Naruto-kun… we are all allies here. Let us be a little more civil."

However Naruto had no more times for games "You heard what I said Hiruzen. I will go see my sister and then head to the gate; if my clan members are not there I will consider it as an act against our treaty and my clan. I'll inform Rida-sama of it and then we will act accordingly to it." With that he walked out of the office followed by Yohei and Hikari.

On Hiruzen's side, he was not doing so good, he did not expect either Miroko or Rida to survive that invasion. Why did he spend so much time and effort distributing intelligence in order to wipe out the Uzumaki if nothing went as planned?

Tsunade decided to voice her concerns since everyone seemed to be thinking "What will you do Hiruzen-sensei?"

"That is the question, now isn't it Tsunade-hime"

**CUT.**

**AN: December 2 heh? Told you the updated chap two would be up soon. Anyway hope I corrected all the mistakes here too neh?**

**AR(authors rant): meh I got nothing this week since I did not want to waist data reading the manga. However if I hear good things about it I will.**

**Slade out**


	3. Chapter 3

**AN: Hey…**

**Disclaimer: Every time I need to write this I cry imaginary tears of guilt, because every week I see Naruto diminish, but never the less. I do not own Naruto… or is it Sasuke now? Meh might as well be.**

'_Our paths may change as we go along, but know that I will always be there for you my sister' – anonymous_

**Start story!**

**Chapter 3: The decisions we make**

After his meeting with Hiruzen Sarutobi it was safe to say that Naruto was not in a good mood at all, apparently Yohei did not get this feeling from him though and decided to start up a conversation "So, that went well huh?"

Naruto looked back at the amused shinobi and glared a little at him "Shut up, Yohei." And with that he continued his walk in silence.

Yohei looked toward Hikari and decided to start up a conversation with him instead "Sooo… what do you think of all this then?"

Hikari had a thoughtful look at that question and pondered it for a moment "Well Yohei-san, I'd say that if Konoha would so choose to keep our kin here there would not be much that we could do because of our clans weakened state." He paused there to think about the situation a bit more "But of course Rida-sama will not let it rest there since she has never agreed with Miroko-sama giving Konoha her daughter."

Now it was time for Yohei to look thoughtful "Hey you think we should give Naruto some time alone with his sister? We could go hang out at that Dango shop from earlier"

Hikari looked into Yohei's hopeful eyes with some amusement and nodded in agreement "I think that would be most wise Yohei-san, but you should address Naruto-sama in a more respectable way in the future"

Yohei scoffed at that "What? Nah man there is no need for that, me and him go way back… like two days back" And to prove his point he walked up to Naruto and slung his arm around his neck "Tell him Naruto"

Naruto looked at Yohei in a bit of confusion, he had not been paying attention to their conversation in the least "Huh… what you talking about?"

Yohei face faulted at that, but Hikari was not affected in the least and smiled at Naruto "He was just asking if it would be alright with you if we were to go to that Dango shop that Yohei-san was talking about earlier, Naruto-sama"

Naruto was a little caught up in Hikari's pale blue eyes that seemed to be shining with amusement and yet kept its dull blue color, but quickly recovered "O, yeah… yeah you two can go. I'll find you if I need you."

When Yohei heard those words leave Naruto's mouth he completely forgot about how he had been ignored and jumped up with a fist pump shouting "Yes, Comrade you are such a great team leader!"

Hikari could not keep in his amusement at seeing Naruto's shocked expression when Yohei had suddenly sprung up behind him and shouted in his ear, and let out a low chuckle "Kukuku yes, well then we will be seeing you Naruto-sama"

Naruto watched his temporary teammates leave and then decided to sprint to the Uzumaki Temple that his sister was staying at in order to get there as quickly as possible.

**Hokage office**

As soon as Hiruzen had come to the conclusion that he would need help on what course of action to take, he had called for his advisors immediately. Now he was looking at his old teammates and former friends, he knew that the only one that would actually stand by him if he were to keep those Uzumaki here would be Danzo. He would also be the only one able to ensure their loyalty after that with his 'special' kind of training, but that loyalty would also only go toward Danzo and Konoha then, and not him. His former teammates would probably have other ideas but he needed to know what they thought on this matter before he could make a decision. Hiruzen cleared his throat in order to make sure that he had their uninterrupted attention. "You have heard about the Uzumaki surviving the invasion I assume…" at three collective nods he continued "When I informed their young heir that we could not let their clan members go because they were now apart of Konoha he gave me an ultimatum."

Danzo slightly narrowed his eyes at those words "He dares to make a threat against Konoha?"

Hiruzen lit his pipe and took a long drag from it, before slowly exhaling "He says it is only the truth."

Homura decided to make his thoughts known at that moment "Has he said that we will be considered traitors to the Uzumaki?"

Hiruzen looked at his old teammate for a moment "Yes, Homura-san…"

"Did either Miroko or Rida survive the invasion?" This time it was Koharu who had spoken up. Looking at her, Hiruzen could clearly see that she was in deep thought

He sighed "It was confirmed by young Naruto that Rida did survive and because he said that he would be reporting back to her I believe that Miroko is either dead or he is badly wounded"

Danzo had had enough of jumping around the topic at hand by now and decided to bring them back on track "We cannot allow them to leave Hiruzen. We worked too hard to get those Uzumaki here, there is no way that we can just allow them to walk out of here… and besides they are weakened now."

Hiruzen nodded at that "My thoughts exactly, Danzo. However we must not forget that we are also currently in a world war, even if three of the five great nations have been weakened."

Homura nodded in agreement "And if anything were to happen to the Uzumaki heir within our villages borders then no matter how weakened the Uzumaki are they will retaliate."

"If we can not have them all then we must at least get some of them"

Everyone in the room turned toward Danzo who had been the one to utter those words. It was Hiruzen however that asked "How do you propose we do that?"

Danzo let a rare smirk tug at the edges of his lips "We handle it like we handle all our off the books operations" at the Hokage's understanding look he continued "Just give me the word and I will send my men out to intercept and abduct at least three Uzumaki girls"

Hiruzen took another long drag from his pipe, slowly exhaled and then put it out. He looked long and hard at Danzo while he put his pipe in the drawer under his desk and put his elbows on the desk while folding his hands in front of his face. "Danzo, if I give you this order you need to know that if you were to fail and Konoha is connected to it somehow. I will throw your ass in the line of fire"

Danzo stared back at his Hokage with an equally intense stare "I understand" _'I can not let my deal with Hiashi fall through because of this'_

"Then you have your orders, Danzo" When his advisors stood up and bowed to leave, Hiruzen could not help but give a little smile. _'Danzo… you think I'm playing into your hand but you have no idea that my hand is so far up your ass that I'm moving your mouth'_

**Uzumaki temple in Konoha**

When Naruto arrived at the shrine he was ecstatic to see his little sister again, but as his hand neared the door to knock he felt unsure of himself. _'What if she hates me for letting them take her'_ He remembered that day like it was yesterday and he thought about it almost everyday. How she had screamed at him to not let them take her away, the pleading look in her eyes and when he just stood there with tears in his eyes, the betrayed look she had given him; the brother that had promised to protect her. He did not know how he would make her forgive him but what he knew was that he had to try somehow, and with his nerves in order he knocked. There was no answer so he knocked again. When there was no answer yet again, his heart fell but he quickly convinced himself that she was not there and so decided to look for her at another place. Just as he turned around and started to walk away the door to the shrine creaked open, and when he turned around a little girl at around six years old was peaking out of the door with purple eyes that were looking curiously at him.

When she stepped out of the shrine he took a look at her. The little girl had a round face that was framed by her fiery red hair. She was wearing a sleeveless kimono-style blouse that was yellow in colour and held closed with a green obi over a short-sleeved mesh shirt with a pair of dark blue shorts and brown shinobi sandals and now that Naruto was looking at her eyes again he could see that she had obviously been crying for some reason. Naruto tried to say something but nothing came to mind and she just kept on looking him over, as if she could not believe that it was him. "Sis…"

She looked surprised when he said that and took an involuntary step back, but then her eyes filled with hope. "Brother?"

Even her voice sounded hopeful, had she been this alone all this time? "Yes Kushina-chan… it's me" he lowered himself onto his knees and opened his arms to give her a hug.

He did not even have time to settle on his knees when a yellow blur crashed into him and knocked him over onto his back. "Brother… they said you were dead!"

He looked down at his crying little sister and rubbed her back. "It's ok sis… I'm fine, yeah?"

She slowly rose her head up from his chest and looked at him with tear stricken eyes and giggled a little at his verbal tick "Yeah…"

Naruto gave his little sister a big smile "So red… wana get something to eat?"

At that Kushina's eyes lit up in delight and she gave him a bright smile too "Yes, I have the perfect place!" and with that she jumped up and started dragging him to the place she was talking about.

Naruto just laughed as his little sister dragged him along and all the while he had a huge smile on his face _'I'm so glad she does not hate me'_

**Outside a small stand**

Naruto looked at the small stand that Kushina had dragged him to with skeptical eyes "You sure this place has this 'food of Kami', red?"

Kushina looked at her brother with wide eyes of shock "How dare you doubt this holy place, brother!" then she huffed and stormed in.

Naruto just looked at his sister in amusement and read the sign "Ichiraku's Ramen, hey? Hmm… couldn't be that bad" he shrugged and then walked into the stand just in time to hear his sister order.

Kushina was standing on a stool talking to a young woman with brown hair; she was also wearing a uniform so she must have worked there "Can you give me and my brother two large salt ramen, please"

The women nodded and then went into the back of the stand, probably to prepare the order. Naruto sat next to his sister who was now also sitting down and waited for their order. Kushina seemed to get impatient as she started taping on the counter with her chopsticks, but then she looked at him and spoke with a little hesitation "Hey brother…"

Naruto looked down at his little sister "Yeah?"

"Can I go home with you now? … they… they put this seal on me to seal this supposed monster in me and… and aunt Mito said that I need love to conquer the hatred that it would bring to me"

Naruto's eyes softened and he frowned a little. He turned toward her and put his hand on her shoulders "Red… you know I love you right?" at her nod he continued "And you know I'd do anything for you right?" again she nodded "I want you to know that I can't bring you home yet…" At that however she lowered her head and her eyes started to water a bit, so he slowly lifted her head up with his hand by her chin so that she could look him in the eyes and see that he meant these next words "But I want you to know sis… I might not be able to do it now but someday… someday I will be bringing you home." He smiled a little at her.

Kushina gained a small smile at that "Hey brother…"

"Yes?"

"Do you miss me?"

Naruto smiled brighter at that and picked her out of her stool and gave her a big hug "Of course sis!"

Kushina laughed and hugged him back "Thanks for coming to see me brother!"

At that moment a young man with narrow eyes, black hair and a white chef uniform came out of the back and smiled "Kushina-chan it is so nice to see you here again! O… and who is this with you?"

Kushina smiled brightly at the man "Teuchi-san! This is my brother, Naruto Uzumaki"

Teuchi smiled at Naruto and bowed "Ahh… nice to finally meet some of Kushina-chan's family"

Naruto bowed his head in return "Nice to meet you too Teuchi-san"

And just then the same women from before came back out with two big bowls of ramen and Teuchi gestured toward her "And this, Naruto-san, is my lovely wife, Sesana."

The women smiled sweetly toward him and put the ramen down before them "There you go Kushina-chan, nice and warm for you"

"Thanks Sesana-san!"

Naruto smiled back at the women and her husband "Thank you" and then they both ate their meal.

**Outside the Uzumaki shrine**

Naruto walked toward the Uzumaki shrine happily talking with his sister, and said girl was currently seated on his shoulder with a bright smile on her face. Naruto had enjoyed his time with his sister and he knew that he would miss her once he left. Kushina jumped down from his shoulder once they reached the door and looked at him with almost sad eyes. He crouched down to look her level in the eye "Hey… I promise that I'll come to get you when I can, yeah?"

She smiled at him and then asked a question that she had wanted to ask all day "Hey brother… do mother and father miss me too?"

Naruto felt a pang in his chest when he realized that Kushina thought his father had also survived the invasion, it was only natural that she would think so since their father had been so much stronger than him "Mother misses you greatly, Red…"

Kushina smiled a little but then it dropped when he did not continue to say that their father missed her too "And… and father?"

Naruto swallowed thickly "He… didn't make it…"

At that Kushina went still before looking down "O…"

Naruto frowned at his sister's sad demeanor and decided to bring up a happier topic "Hey… so what was that about the academy that you were talking about earlier?"

Kushina perked up at that "Old man Hokage said that my body would be more accustomed to the seal next week so I can finally start my ninja training again!"

Naruto smiled at how quickly her mood did a 180 "Haha… just make sure that you get strong, yeah? I don't want to come back and find out that my little sister is still a little wimp!"

Kushina glared at her brother and went red from her rage "Hey! I am not a little wimp!"

Naruto laughed and ruffled her hair "Sure thing, Red"

She just huffed at him and turned her head away with a pout. Naruto looked at her with a little smile on his face "Hey, Red…" she glanced at him from the corner of her eye, clearly interested in what he had to say "I brought a gift for you… but since you're mad at me and all, I don't know if I should even give it to you"

Naruto had to laugh when her eyes widened comically and she frantically waved her hands in front of her "What do you mean not give it to me! You should give it to me to make it up to me!"

Naruto chuckled some more before he tried to calm her down "Hey now, don't worry I'll give it to you" he pulled out a scroll from his back pouch and handed it to her "Go ahead… open it"

Kushina did just that, opening the scroll and putting a little bit of chakra in it. Out of it came a blood red katana, two longer than average kunai that were blacker than usual and did not seem to reflect sunlight. Then she saw two scrolls popping out too "What are those?"

Naruto decided to explain what all the gifts were "The katana is from mother, the daggers are from me – they are chakra conductive with strengthening seals on them, the scrolls are for kenjutsu and advanced sealing art"

Kushina smiled at her brother and then jumped to hug him "Thanks a lot brother! And tell mom I said thanks too"

Naruto hugged her back "It's my pleasure sis and I'll tell her"

Kushina stepped back from her brother and re-sealed the items before looking at him with sad eyes yet again "I guess you have to go now right?"

Naruto gave her a sad smile "I'll be back really soon, just make sure you stay safe, yeah?"

Kushina gave him a foxy smirk "Just you wait… when you come back again I'll kick your butt brother!"

Naruto chuckled and ruffled her hair "I'll be proud of you no matter what, sis" he gave her one final hug and then watched her walk into the shrine until she gave him one final wave and then closed the door "No matter what Red… I'll get you out of here one day." And with that he walked back towards Konoha's main gate, prepared for whatever outcome.

**Konoha: main gate**

Naruto had decided to just shunshin to the gate after his stroll took too long. When he arrived and saw all the children from his clan running around and playing games he had to smile at the site.

When Hiruzen saw Naruto appear in front of him with his back turned he could not resist the smile spreading across his face _'So inexperienced' _"Naruto-kun… I do hope you had a wonderful time with your sister"

Naruto jumped a little in surprise and quickly turned around to stare into the smiling face of the Hokage "Ahh… Hokage-sama I see you have come to your senses"

Hiruzen's smile widened at his statement "Of course… our alliance is too important to break after all"

Naruto could not believe how nice this man came across. This was exactly the reason why he did not trust people who came off as too nice "Yeah…"

Just when he thought he would have to continue his conversation with the Hokage he was saved by Yohei who came swaggering up to him "Yo comrade! We've been waiting a long time for you man." He slung his arm around Naruto's shoulder "Sorry Hokage-_sama_… but it looks like it's time to go."

Hiruzen caught the little disrespecting tone in Yohei's voice but he had years of experience in crafting his mask and did not even skip a beat in replying to that statement "Yes, of course… you all must have much to do back in Uzushiogakure"

Naruto looked at the Hokage with narrowed eyes before nodding and turning around, Yohei followed him. Once they were out of earshot he decided to ask Yohei something "Hey, Yohei, is everyone here?"

Yohei nodded "Yip. Megume-chan said everyone is accounted for"

Naruto nodded in satisfaction "Good then it's time to head home, yeah?"

"Wow man that is just amazing, hey? You just stole the words out of my mouth! Well without the whole 'yeah?' thing you got going on…" Yohei was about to continue but when he turned his head to talk to Naruto he was already running out of Konoha. He shrugged and then followed the team leader.

**Somewhere around the same place they camped before**

Naruto was quickly reminded that they had children in their group and that he had to slow down so that they could travel at a comfortable rate. Ever since they had been traveling at a slow pace and it had been a boring trip for him. He suddenly heard someone come up next to him and looked around to see who it was and came face to face with a smiling Hikari.

"Naruto-sama… we think it's time we stopped for the night and set up camp so that the little ones may rest."

Naruto had a thoughtful expression at that and after a moment of thought he finally responded to Hikari "Yeah there is a clearing up front, we can camp there for the night." With that he sped up in order to go scout said clearing in order to make sure there were no nasty surprises for them.

When Hikari saw him speed up ahead he slowed his own pace down in order to fall back and let the other adult shinobi know where they planned to camp for the night.

**Much later at an ungodly hour to wake up**

The sky above was colored in the color of the blackest steel one could find and the only thing disturbing the almost pure black color were the few grey clouds scattered across it. In a clearing on the outskirts of The Land of Fire a group of ninja were camped for the night in order to give their young charges enough time to rest for their journey back home. One particular shinobi though had decided that he needed to rest too and so left three people up to take watch while the others slept and of course he was one of those lucky shinobi to sleep. Currently our hero was having a peaceful sleep with a pleasant dream. He could not understand however why he was suddenly feeling earth quacks in his dream… and was that Yohei's voice he could faintly hear? Why would he be dreaming about that idiot?

"…ruto!" a little bit of consciousness came to Naruto and he realized that he was not dreaming about the idiot but that he was actually being woken up from his sleep. Rage quickly filled Naruto when that thought solidified in his head and he jumped up on his feet and grabbed the offending person by the throat. "Why the fuc…" Naruto could not finish his threat because he suddenly heard a loud boom coming from his right and looking toward the direction he could see that flames and rocks were trying to break the barrier that they had put around them. Naruto looked at Yohei who had ripped himself from his grip in the meantime and was looking at him with glaring eyes. "Who the fuck is attacking us, Yohei?"

"We don't know man. They got these weird black robes on with completely white masks. They don't seem to be Konoha ninja but we can not rule it out."

Naruto nodded and his eyes narrowed for a bit before he lost any and all emotion and gained an impassive look "Have you secured the children in an extra barrier?" when Yohei nodded and took off toward the site of the newest explosion he took deep breaths to calm his nerves _'Mother fuckers are gonna pay for waking me up at this ungodly hour'_

When he finished his calming ritual he heard a loud noise that sounded like glass breaking. He cursed his bad luck and sprinted to the place he saw the latest explosion all the while folding his chakra over and over just under his skin, ready to unleash it at any moment an enemy came into view. He also felt the new sensation of his bloodline giving him this little itch in his lower back, as if it was asking to be let loose and for some reason he loved that feeling.

As Naruto ran through the tree tops he could feel the chakra flooding the surrounding area from every shinobi in battle and the killing intent that was being mixed in with it was almost intoxicating. Naruto had to let his own killing intent leak out in order to nullify the effect that it had on him in order to keep his focus. As soon as he did this he caught a glimpse of a small white object moving past him in the crook of his eye and he rapidly spun around and dashed in the direction he had seen it move. He did not go far however as he was blown away by a ball of mud that sent him careening through three trees, it would have broken his back had he not been reinforcing his body with chakra before-hand. He knew however that he did not have the luxury of time to recover from that attack and forced his already aching body to do a flip in mid air to position him so that he would be able to jump off the next tree he was suppose to crash through.

When he jumped onto a new tree branch he immediately had to dodge a volley of kunai and shuriken. Those he could not dodge had to be hastily parried or risk further injury, however when he thought he was in the clear he was completely caught off guard when explosions ripped the forest behind him to pieces and he was sent flying to his attacker. Naruto looked on in horror as his attacker leapt toward him with his sword drawn and preparing to slash at him, and his life flashed before his eyes. He thought that he would die in this battle but he quickly stopped that thought process in order to focus on molding chakra, just as his enemy was about to bring his sword down on his head chains with kunai tips exploded from his back and impaled the man before him in the head.

Naruto stumbled into the now dead man and continued to fall toward the ground with a loud thump. He groaned when the fall put more pressure on his back. _'Mother fucker who the fuck are these guys? He almost broke my damn back before the fight even begun!' _He stood up and looked down at his dead enemy for a moment before kicking him one more time in the face "You won't be mes…" Suddenly a loud boom went off behind him and when he spun around to look at the direction it came from his eyes widened in fear.

"No…" Another boom echoed throughout the forest but this time the sound of glass breaking accompanied it and he could also see the barrier break that the children were in because of the fire lighting up the night sky. Naruto flared his chakra and sped off in that direction with fury in his eyes _'Damn you Hiruzen!'_

**Barrier that the children were in: few minutes ago**

Yohei dodged the slash of one of the enemies and quickly went through hand seals for a technique **"Water Style: Water Bullet!" **He immediately let the technique loose at point blank range and the high-pressured water bullet tore through the shinobi in front of him, spraying blood in every direction that it could. Yohei fell to a knee clutching his side where a large gash could be seen, this momentary lapse cost him however as a fireball was sent his way. He tried to jump out of the way but he soon realized that he would not make it out of the way and started to look for another way out, this proved to be fruitless as there was none so he just braced himself for the impact. The only impact that came however was him hitting the ground, hard. He looked around in confusion but quickly saw what saved him, it was an earth wall. He silently thanked Hikari and then unsheathed his twin katana while he had the chance, the enemy had had him on the ropes from the beginning and did not even give him a chance to do this. As he turned around and charged at the closest enemy he could sense he charged his katana with his wind chakra and did an x-shaped slice at him, two arcs of wind escaped his katana and sped toward the enemy. The shinobi turned around as he felt someone's chakra flare for a moment at his left, when he saw the x-shaped arcs racing toward him he calmly raised his hand into one seal and then sunk into the ground.

Yohei was not to be disheartened however and did the same attack on the ground until his enemy jumped out of it. When the shinobi did this however he let loose a massive mud ball at Yohei, Yohei's eyes widened temporarily but quickly composed himself and sent countless arcs of air at the mud ball, slicing it into multiple small pieces and letting it fall harmless on the ground. The enemy shinobi did not seem to care about this and when he landed, just sprinted toward Yohei while unsheathing his short-sword. Yohei had his attention on the multiple mud pieces that were falling and he almost missed his enemy when he tried to decapitate him, but he did see him and just managed to duck in order to save his head.

Just as Yohei was about to slash at his opponent he saw him fall limp and his head fell in front of him. Yohei looked at the new chakra signature in his vicinity with annoyance "You know, Hikari-san, I appreciated the first time but I had this"

Hikari looked at Yohei for a moment and then smiled "Ahh… sorry Yohei-san, I just saw you struggling a bit and decided to help"

Yohei was about to reply but then he felt a huge chakra buildup to his left, his head snapped in that direction at the same time as Hikari's "What the fuck is that?"

His question was soon answered as a gigantic boulder that was lit on fire crashed into the barrier that was protecting the children. Hikari lost his emotionless mask and his eyes widened in realization and fear "No! They want the children!"

Yohei's eyes widened as well and then new adrenaline pumped through his veins as pure hatred was visible in his eyes. He sprinted in the direction where the chakra had yet again begun to build up, his injuries completely forgotten in order to save his kin. Hikari was more composed than Yohei but anyone that knew him well enough would know that he was furious at this moment by his narrowed eyes, his chakra flared before he dashed in the same direction as Yohei.

Yohei could not believe the nerve of these shinobi. How dare they try to kidnap the children of the Uzumaki and think that they would get away with it in any way possible? He sheathed his twin katana and flared his chakra while running through hand seals. When he was in mid jump to the next tree he braced himself while letting loose the technique he had been building his chakra for **"Wind Style: Great Breakthrough!"** Normally this would have been a low level technique but with the amount of chakra that he put into the move it was no surprise when wind exploded from Yohei's hands and completely ripped the forest in front of him to pieces.

The technique continued on its path of destruction, almost like it was a tornado in its own right, it was too slow to reach the enemy however as the same attack hit the barrier, this time however completely shattering it and continuing on its path of destruction. When Yohei saw that, he slightly faltered in his sprint, but then he remembered that they want the children so they are probably safe. Now that the barrier had been shattered however he had a bad feeling and pushed his body even further to reach those scum in time. In the back of his mind he knew that he would be in a world of pain if he survived this.

**With Naruto**

Naruto came skidding into the recently created clearing, by some wind jutsu he presumed, and stabbed an unsuspecting enemy nin in the back of the head. Eyes still blazing with fury he spun around while going through hand seals and released a massive amount of chakra **"Lightning Style: Electromagnetic Murder" **The same thing happened as with Yohei's low-level technique.

The sheer amount of chakra that was pumped into the attack exponentially increased the damage that it would do because when the electricity rushed out of his hands it was so charged that it almost turned white. The speed of the attack caught three enemy nin off guard and it disintegrated them on contact. In his rage induced state a shinobi by passed his senses and rushed in to slash him in the side before quickly retreating when Naruto tried to stab him with a kunai. Naruto glared at the shinobi that had slashed his side and sent six chains hurling in his direction at break-neck speed. The chains did not make it to their target however as a rock knocked them all off target. Naruto immediately dashed to the shinobi who had used that attack because that had to be the one who broke the barrier, just as he was about to engage the enemy however they seemed to all retreat into the surviving forest. Naruto wanted to run after them and destroy each and every one but he had to make sure that the children were alright and so he dashed in that direction.

As Naruto neared the place where he could see the children all huddled into a circle, crying, he slowed down and surveyed the surroundings. The first thing he noticed was that the area surrounding the children was destroyed, one would not guess that this had been a forest clearing not too long ago, the second was that six of the adult shinobi that had been protecting the children were here. They were all beaten up and in bad shape, what he did notice was that there was no medic healing them. "Where is the medic?!" He winced when the wound on his side acted up.

Hikari pulled himself up from the ground while holding his side as well "I am afraid he died Naruto-sama"

Naruto fell to his knees as his back could no longer support him and winced further as that action aggravated his wound even further "Damnit… what now"

Yohei spit a bit of blood out as he leaned against a tree and chuckled a bit "We will have to tough it out this time Naruto"

Naruto knew that he was right about that but he knew they could not continue now "Fine, we will rest for a bit and then move on. Create three of your strongest barriers around us Ookami-san."

An older looking shinobi grunted in acknowledgement and limped to do his job. The rest of them unsealed what medical equipment they had with them and started tending to their wounds. Naruto hated to admit it but this time he lost, and he lost bad.

**AN: Updated: December 2.**

**Also I feel kinda bad for not thanking the guy who put my story in his community… thanks man. And the power levels are as follow:**

**Naruto: High A-rank**

**Yohei: Mid A-rank**

**Hikari: High A-rank**

**Rida: High S-rank**

**Nasha: High A-rank**

**thank you to the people who follow and favorite this story I really appreciate it. And to those who take the extra time to review I appreciate your input on this story**

**Slade out**


	4. Chapter 4

**AN: Skip the review answer if you want… it is kinda long**

**Guest: well, firstly, a surprising amount of guest reviews was received so I hope you know who you are, yeah? In terms of Naruto's power… well I don't know about you but I find children that are more powerful than adult shinobi rather unbelieving. I mean I understand child prodigies but honestly, a Kage level 16 year old is a little much considering the years needed to master most shinobi arts, so even if you do learn certain areas faster than others you will still need to master them. Also the amount of chakra needed in such a small body? I believe a jinchuriki would have it but not a normal child. Anyway the point that I am trying to get across is that Naruto is a prodigy among his peers but put up against more experienced and older shinobi who have spent years perfecting their art, he will have a really hard time winning and sometimes he will lose. I am not a fan of OP characters because I do not believe that you can make a fight interesting enough that way… unless you bring in another OP character of course. I want to create a fan fiction where the reader will be continuously wondering what will happen next AND how it will happen. Not one where you will go 'O look, another fight, Naruto will now use one of his god like bloodlines to defeat his enemy with his pinky' until another god like character comes along and then you go 'ahh now it's interesting' but then they are like "I'm god!" and then he goes "No I'm god!" and then massive explosions accure until Naruto wins. Where is the fun in writing something like that? Anyway, Naruto is in no way weak, if you just think what all his fights have consisted of until now, and I do not intend to make it seem like that. So I will ask you to stick around, yeah?**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto… this should have been clear by the fact that I am writing fan fiction… anyway I respect the universe Kishimoto has created, I just do not agree with some… decisions? He made towards the end that's all.**

'_War is not merely an act of policy but a true political instrument, a continuation of political intercourse carried on with other means'. – Carl von Clausewitz_

**Chapter 4: politics**

As consciousness returned to the heir of the Uzumaki clan, so too did the pain of his injuries return to him. First, it was his back that started aching and it felt as if he might have some internal damage, which would need immediate medical attention when he arrived in Uzu. Next was the slash he had received at his side, it was not as serious as his back problems at the moment so he could live with that. Naruto tried to sit up but he decided that it was a bad idea after he felt the strain on his back; he slowly rolled onto his stomach and steadily stood up to his feet. When he tried to take a step forward however he stumbled a little and had to lean on a tree to get his balance back.

"You should just rest some more, comrade" Naruto looked around for the owner of the raspy voice "Down here, comrade" At that, he looked at the ground only to see the person who said he knew him laying there, not even moving an inch.

Naruto coughed a little to clear his throat "Well you look like shit"

Yohei slowly turned his head toward Naruto "Trust me, comrade I do not feel like it… I do feel like noodles though. And I can tell you now it hurts like a motherfucker"

Naruto gave a weak chuckle at that "Yes well we need to keep moving. It is only a few miles till we reach shore and then we are home free"

Yohei nodded in agreement "I agree… but until we leave I intend to rest", and with that he closed his eyes "Also I will be sleeping the shit out of these few minutes"

Naruto grumbled something that sounded a lot like "Lazy ass...", and stumbled off to inform everyone that they will be leaving. He did not go far however because he was immediately stopped by one of the ninja that were tasked with protecting the children.

"NARUTO-SAMA!"

Naruto flinched at the loud voice that rang through his head, making it feel as if his head wanted to explode from it "Kami damnit man… lower your voice"

The ninja came to a stop before Naruto and gave a quick, respectful bow toward him before speaking "I am sorry, Naruto-sama, but… but I have grave news"

Naruto looked at the shinobi's face, noting that he was not looking at him "Well spit it out then"

The shinobi looked up and Naruto was a little surprised to see tears streaming down his face "We… we just found out that four of the children are missing, sir"

Naruto's mind shut down for a moment "What? What did you just say?"

The shinobi took a deep breath and wiped his tears away "They are gone sir… we can not find them. The shinobi from last night must have escaped with the children without us noticing it"

Naruto could not believe it. Children that he was supposed to be protecting were gone, who knew what they would be going through now? How could he have let something like this happen? "No…" How could he have failed his clan again? "NO…" They were suppose to go home to their families after this whole ordeal "NO! I will not let this stand! Search those bodies for any lead to tell us where they came from!" And with that, his killing intent exploded to levels that completely terrified the shinobi in front of him.

The shinobi backed away from Naruto, scared shitless, and fell on his butt. He did not stay still however and scrambled away from the furious redhead while saying "Yes, sir!"

Naruto slumped next to a tree while taking in deep breaths. That little display had taken more out of him than he would have liked to admit. He did not stop thinking about his failure however, whoever kidnapped his kin would pay… they would pay with more than just their filthy lives too.

**Konoha: underground ROOT base**

Danzo sat in his throne looking over his remaining shinobi from his latest mission for Konoha in the shadows, with slightly narrowed eyes. He knew what the general ninja force thought of him and his ANBU division but they did not know how much he had to sacrifice for them, they may have upheld the _'honorable image'_ of Konoha but he, he and his men were the ones that ensured that Konoha survived on a day to day basis. He and his men were the only ones who were willing to do what shinobi were meant to do in order to survive : lie, cheat, steal, corrupt, exploit weakness, assassinate and die nameless for your village; that was the true purpose of being a ninja not running around spreading peace and love to everyone you met, not showing mercy to your opponent because it was _'honor less to kill a defeated opponent'_, not making treaties with other villages and alliances, no they were not samurai they were ninja! The scum of the earth, they had no friends, they had no identity, they had no honor, they only had loyalty to the village and that was it. Everyone else was fair kill. His faction may have been seen as nothing more than mindless drones that were good for nothing, but at least they did what was necessary, at least they were willing to win this war for their village by any means possible. The general ninja population also had the misconception that he did not care for his men… well they were correct in their assumption but he did care for his number of subordinates, so when he saw that only ten shinobi were kneeling before him he was not a happy man.

"I sent twenty-five of my very best shinobi to capture four children that were being protected by seven shinobi… so tell me Kuro why are there fifteen of you missing"

The aforementioned ninja lifted his head a little when he spoke "They were more skilled than expected Danzo-sama. We did capture the children that you wanted, sir."

Danzo nodded _'I can see how they survived the invasion now… it seems as if the Uzumaki clan are better than expected… but what changed? They were a peaceful clan that only focused on sealing techniques last I heard' _"And how many of them did you kill?"

If Kuro had emotion, he would have been sweating bullets by now but seeing as he had that stripped of him from an early age he answered the question without pause "We managed to kill one, sir"

'_One? …One?' _ He could not believe what he was hearing. He had spent years training these shinobi to the best of his ability and all of them were jounin level and up. His ANBU were a force to be reckoned with anywhere in the world. They did not have any emotional restraints when they made decisions; it was made in a split second for the most effective outcome. How could seven shinobi stand up to twenty-five shinobi who were practically computers? "How did this happen?"

Even Kuro could now pick up the faint trace of anger in his masters voice but he still answered without pause "The information that we received on the Uzumaki clan was less than substantial, Danzo-sama. The Uzumaki did not focus on combat sealing as their main offence; all of them essentially used ninjutsu or kenjutsu. Some of them used a restraining seal here and there but the most advanced seal we encountered was the outer barrier seal. Our men were not prepared for the amount of chakra that they seem to posses, sir, they made low level ninjutsu in to high level by pushing as much chakra into the technique as they safely could… and one of them seemed to create constructs out of chakra, Danzo-sama."

Danzo almost showed his surprise at that last statement _'Created constructs out of chakra? Could it be that they have that bloodline too?' _"Are you sure what you saw was chakra constructs, Kuro?" at his subordinates nod Danzo continued "This is most concerning… and you say they were mostly using ninjutsu and kenjutsu?" he received another nod of agreement "What changed in that clan that they would switch their primary skill in such a way and when did this happen?" Danzo stood up from his throne and began to descend the stairs "You did well, Kuro. You have greatly increased our chance of winning this war, now take your men and rest so that you can be ready for your next mission. It will be hard, but we now have the perfect tools in our possession" Then he continued his walk past them and into the darkness, where he seemed to melt into the shadows like a specter of the night. It fit him perfectly, the true shadow of Konoha perfectly.

**Konoha: Hokage's office**

Hiruzen Sarutobi sighed, not out of frustration or irritation, but out of relief that the day had finally reached its end and he could now go home to his beautiful and just relax. It was not that today had been a bad day; in fact, it had been a great day for Konoha as a whole. Reports had come in that Iwagakure pulled their troops out of Kusagakure and Konoha had immediately secured the territory. Kumogakure had also stopped their skirmishes at Fire countries border, Sunagakure was now dominating Kirigakure, and they had retreated to their country. In two days the war had taken a complete turn around in Konoha's favor, it was perfect. This war would not be going on for much longer if he had anything to do about it and then Konohagakure would cement its place at the top of the pile with minimum loss, that is if Danzo and his lapdogs had completed their mission… but that was a story for tomorrow. With rest in mind, Hiruzen stood up to walk home and relax after a good day at the office.

Just then, his door decided to open up, and in stepped the figure that he was just thinking about "Not now, Danzo"

Danzo did not stop and continued his fluid movements toward a chair, not waiting one move. "You will want to hear this, Hokage-sama" If Danzo had not spent years controlling his emotions you would have been able to see how much effort he had to put in to say 'Hokage-sama' but you could not read a single emotion on his face, and his voice was neutral.

Hiruzen scrutinized Danzo for a moment before sitting down and lighting his pipe "Speak"

Danzo blinked once, the only way you would have been able to detect his growing anger of being spoken to like some low life, but otherwise showed no outward emotion "The mission was a success… however there were some unforeseen events that took place"

Hiruzen looked vaguely interested now "Go on then."

Danzo blinked once more, he would need to work on that in the future "The Uzumaki seem to have stopped using combat sealing and switched to primarily ninjutsu and kenjutsu"

Hiruzen took a puff of his pipe "Interesting… I wonder what caused them to change their way. However reports we received from the invasion of Uzu say that they used some kind of canon like explosive fuinjutsu to deal devastating damage to the enemy numbers, so we know that they are still very much advanced in fuinjutsu."

Danzo nodded in agreement "I agree. However we must let our spy master find out why they changed from their primary set of skills in combat."

This time, Hiruzen nodded in agreement "Yes, I will let him do that tomorrow. Now is there anything else? I really must go now, some of us have families." At that, Hiruzen smiled a kind (looking) smile.

Danzo almost grit his teeth at Hiruzen's statement "One of them created constructs out of chakra"

Hiruzen stopped himself from getting up when he heard that and narrowed his eyes at Danzo "What did you say"

Danzo looked back at his Hokage with absolutely no fear in his eyes "You heard me, Hokage-sama"

Hiruzen grit his teeth at Danzo's reply but ignored it immediately, the information that he had just received was far more important than Danzo's disrespecting remarks. If what he said was true then the Uzumaki were in possession of a very dangerous bloodline and they had to obtain it for the leaf at whatever cost. "I'll look into it… however seeing as you have held me up this long we may as well send for Hiashi." At Danzo's nod of agreement, Hiruzen motioned with his hand and an ANBU stepped out of the shadows to bow before him. "Tell Hiashi Hyuga that he has been summoned by his Kage" The ANBU gave a quick 'Hai' and disappeared in a shunshin.

Silence filled the room as Hiruzen and Danzo stared at each other while they waited for Hiashi to arrive. After five minutes of just staring at each other, the silence became impalpable, and Hiruzen was about to ask Danzo something but then Hiashi showed up in a shunshin with the ANBU that was sent to get him.

Hiruzen looked at Hiashi for a moment. He was young, very young, he had been given the title of 'head of the Hyuga clan' but three months ago after his father was mysteriously assassinated and was now trying to build his reputation within the village to gain some respect. Hiruzen almost laughed when he looked at Hiashi in his 'Royal' Hyuga clothes looking as if he was an important figure in the room. The Hyuga thought that his eyes could see everything that there was to see in this world, if that were true however he would have seen that he should not make deals with people like Danzo. Hiruzen cleared his throat and put on his warmest smile "Ahh Hiashi my boy, how great that you could join us so quickly"

Hiashi looked visibly irritated by the way Hiruzen had addressed him but never the less gave a respectful bow "I would appreciate it if you would address me with some respect, Hokage-sama." He then looked at Danzo "Greetings, Danzo-san"

Danzo had not even given Hiashi a second glance since he had arrived and had continued to stare at Hiruzen with an unreadable expression. He could see that Hiruzen was satisfied with himself with finding out about his deal with Hiashi and then involving himself in it _'What a fool you are Hiruzen. You think that you control me? You have gone senile old friend'_. Danzo finally gave Hiashi a sideways glance and then gave him a respectful nod "Hiashi-san"

Hiruzen's smile grew a little at Hiashi's remark "Of course, Hiashi-san" He then motioned for him to sit down "Please, sit. We must make this meeting as quick as can be"

Hiashi nodded in agreement and then took a seat next to Danzo "I agree, Hokage-sama. I gather that you have acquired your part of the bargain?" He was now looking directly at Danzo. However to his surprise it was not Danzo who answered him but Hiruzen did.

"Yes, we have acquired the three children you requested. They will start their training after they come from the Yamanaka compound. I expect their chakra control to be exceptional before they bare children, Hiashi" Danzo said absolutely nothing as Hiruzen gave Hiashi his 'ultimatum'. He would let the old fool think that he was in charge for the time being.

Hiashi gave a sideways glance at Danzo before he spoke "And the children will still be given to Danzo-san?"

Hiruzen gave a small smirk at that "No, they will now be trained by someone that I will select"

Hiashi almost frowned at that "I am afraid that I can not agree to that, Hokage-sama, as I have already made a deal with, Danzo-san."

However, to his surprise Danzo decided to speak up at that moment "It is not a problem, Hiashi"

Hiashi looked at Danzo for a moment to try and read what his angel was, but could find nothing. After a moment, he nodded in agreement "Then it is settled, Hokage-sama. Now if that is all?" At Hiruzen's nod, Hiashi stood up, bowed and then walked out of the door.

Danzo took that moment to stand up "I will take my leave then, Hokage-sama" With that, he started to walk out of the office.

"Danzo" Hiruzen's voice stopped him mid step. "I hope this shows you what happens when you try to make deals behind my back"

Danzo turned around and gave, what he thought, a respectful bow to Hiruzen. "Of course, Hokage-sama" He then walked out of the office with one of his rare smiles.

Hiruzen did not see it and thought that he had put Danzo in his place once and for all "ahh yes. This turned out to be a marvelous day indeed" He sighed in contempt one last time before deciding to retire for the night.

**With Naruto**

Naruto was not in a good mood. He had not slept well because of his injuries but now after finding out four of the children he was suppose to protect were missing, and he did not even know who was responsible for it. He suspected Konoha – seeing as the attack happened within the land of fire but this was a time of war and any nation could have sent a team into the land of fire – he also did not have any way to tie The Leaf Village to this, seeing as those ninja had no identification on them other than some seal on their tongue. They would decipher that seal in time and find a signature of some sort on it though so there was at least some consolation. This did not improve his mood however and it was apparent to his traveling partners as they stayed far behind him while they walked toward shore. They had been walking for a couple of hours now and Naruto had had time to think about the recent events in his life and the battles he had been in.

He had been fighting more skilled ninja by the day and it seemed that he still had a long way to go if he ever wanted to be a proud heir to the Uzumaki and live up to his fathers expectations that he had of him. He needed this war to end so that he could focus on his training and become stronger, he also needed it to end so that his clan could rebuild itself.

Naruto suddenly felt a tug on his arm and he looked down to see what it was. When he looked down a pair of black eyes that were almost covered by red bangs stared back at him. "Hey mister… there are a whole lot of small chakra signatures around us"

Naruto was a little startled at the little girls statement and he wanted to ask her where she came up with such a ludicrous idea, until he picked up on one too. "Thanks, little girl… now go back and stay with the others, yeah?"

He could not believe that he had missed these signatures, but he was glad that they did not seem to be strong because his team was not in a condition to fight any real ninja. He jumped a little further ahead, signaling his team to be ready for attack, and shouted "Come out scum!"

At first nothing happened but then he was suddenly surrounded by six bandits all wielding swords. Who Naruto assumed to be the leader stepped forward and started to laugh "Hahahahaha... so you think you are tough kid."

Another bandit took a look at the children and a perverted smirk plastered itself on his lips "Hey boss they have girls with them!"

"Hahahaha!" The boss lifted his sword up to Naruto's throat and pushed the point against it "What say you just give those children to us hey kid?"

By this point Naruto was beyond furious and his killing intend florred the bandit "You…" He took a step closer to the leader "You…" When he took another step, the leader was ready to scramble away for his life. Then Naruto fell over from his back injury when he tried to unleash his chains.

The bandit looked on in a shocked expression, not believing his luck, but quickly sprung to his feet "Quickly men! They are injured. Kill the adults and take the children!"

Naruto heard the command and tried to stand up on his feet but his legs would not cooperate. When he saw the bandits getting up with smirks on their faces he could not control his anger anymore and he started to feel the familiar itch in the palms of his hands _'Please let this work…'_

Naruto lifted up his palms in the direction of the bandits and pushed all his remaining chakra from them. At first nothing happened but then three chains burst out of each palm, impaling all six bandits in vital spots and killing them instantly. Naruto gave a tired smile before he passed out.

**END**

**AN: I'm sure you notice this chapter is shorter than normal but I've decided to cut down the chapters for some reasons**

**Anyway hope I get more followers, favorites and reviews!**

**Slade out**


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